CARPENTER'S 
GEOGRAPHICAL  READER 


NORTH 
AMERICA 


110         Longitude 


West  100         i  roti 


Frontispiece 


CARPENTER'S  GEOGRAPHICAL  READER 


NORTH  AMERICA 


BY 


FRANK    G:   CARPENTER 


NEW   YORK    •:•    CINCINNATI    •:•    CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


BOOKS  BY 
FRANK    G.    CARPENTER 

flntrofcuction  to  <3eograpb$ 

AROUND  THE  WORLD  WITH  THE  CHILDREN 

<3eograpbical  IReaDers 

NORTH  AMERICA 

SOUTH  AMERICA 

EUROPE 

ASIA 

AFRICA 

AUSTRALIA  AND  ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA 


on  Gommerce  anD 

HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  FED 
HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  CLOTHED 
HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  HOUSED 


COPYRIGHT,  1898,  1910,  1915,  BY 
,    FRANK.  0.   CARPENTER. 
ENTERED  A  -i*  STATIONERS'  HALL,  LONDON. 

-  !    I  ',CARP.    N.     'M. 

E.   P.  62 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  give  to  its  readers  a  living 
knowledge  of  some  of  the  wonders  of  the  country  and  con 
tinent  in  which  they  live.  Upon  a  personally  conducted 
tour  they  are  taken  by  the  author  through  the  most  char 
acteristic  parts  of  the  North  American  continent.  They 
travel  through  the  United  States,  British  America,  Mexico, 
and  Central  America,  studying  the  most  interesting  fea 
tures  of  life  and  work  among  the  people  of  each  country, 
learning  how  they  are  governed,  and  what  they  do  in  order 
to  make  a  living.  Much  information  is  also  given  con 
cerning  the  natural  resources  and  the  physical  features  of 
the  countries  visited. 

The  greater  part  of  the  journey  is  taken  in  the  United 
States.  Here  the  young  Americans  learn  what  makes  us 
a  great  nation,  and  see  for  themselves  the  sources  of  our 
national  wealth.  They  visit  our  chief  cities.  They  go 
through  the  cotton  and  tobacco  plantations  of  the  South, 
linger  under  the  orange  groves  of  Florida,  and  spend  some 
time  among  the  vast  corn  and  bread  lands  of  the  North. 
They  travel  over  the  plains,  visit  the  arid  regions  and  the 
irrigation  works  which  are  reclaiming  some  of  them.  They 
learn,  also,  of  our  great  swamps  and  their  drainage. 

They  go  down  into  the  mines  and  see  how  coal,  iron, 
copper,  gold,  and  silver  are  taken  out  of  the  depths  of  the 
earth  and  turned  to  the  use  of  man.  They  spend  days  in 
the  forests  visiting  the  lumber  camps  and  learning  about 
the  wood  lands  and  our  National  Forest  Reservations. 
They  see  the  great  natural  wonders  of  our  country,  now 

7 

410921 


. PREFACE 

stayiiig '  awhile  at  Niagara  Falls,  now  drifting  down 
through  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado,  now  resting 
under  the  shadow  of  the  big  trees  of  California,  and  later 
on  wandering  about  among  the  wonderful  geysers  of  the 
Yellowstone  Park. 

From  Puget  Sound  they  sail  north  to  Alaska,  the  land  of 
ice,  gold,  coal,  and  seals,  and  thence  travel  up  the  Yukon 
River  and  over  the  frozen  plains  to  the  Mackenzie.  After 
exploring  the  great  fur  lands  of  the  northern  part  of  our 
continent,  they  return  southward  and  visit  the  settled  parts 
of  Canada,  including  the  western  wheat  belt,  the  manu 
facturing  east,  as  well  as  the  capital  and  other  chief  cities. 

From  Halifax  they  take  ship  for  Mexico,  going  almost 
directly  from  the  cold  lands  of  the  North  to  the  semi- 
tropical  regions  of  our  sister  republic.  They  ascend 
Popocatepetl,  travel  over  the  Mexican  plateau,  and  then, 
after  a  journey  through  Central  America,  they  sail  through 
the  Panama  Canal,  and  back  to  New  York. 

These  imaginary  tours  which  the  children  make  will,  it 
is  believed,  not  only  give  them  much  valuable  information 
of  a  practical  character,  but  will  inspire  them  with  intelli 
gent  patriotic  motives  and  with  a  commendable  pride  in  our 
country's  institutions.  Used  as  a  supplementary  reader  in 
connection  with  the  geographies  studied  at  school,  the 
book  will  aid  in  imparting  a  living  interest  to  the  lessons 
therein  contained,  and  will  be  found  to  be  a  valuable  aid 
in  explaining  and  fixing  in  the  mind  many  interesting  facts 
which  might  otherwise  be  but  imperfectly  apprehended. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


1.  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  NORTH  AMERICA          .         .         .         .11 

2.  IN  OUR  NATIONAL  CAPITAI 17 

3.  A  VISIT  TO  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  TO  THE  HALLS  OF  CON 

GRESS         26 

4.  THE  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  —  STATE,  WAR. 

NAVY,  AND  TREASURY 35 

5.  THE     DEPARTMENTS     OF     THE     GOVERNMENT  —  JUSTICE, 

POST  OFFICE,  INTERIOR,  COMMERCE.  LABOR,  AND  AGRI 
CULTURE   -43 

6.  BALTIMORE  AND  THE  OYSTER  BEDS 49 

7.  IN  PHILADELPHIA  — A  VISIT  TO  THE  MINT        ...       54 

8.  NEW  YORK  AND  SOME  OF  ITS  WONDERS  .         .         .  63 

9.  OUR  FOREIGN  COMMERCE 71 

10.   NEW  ENGLAND  —  COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES     .         .       83 
n.    AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS  AND  LAKES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  .       92 

12.  IN  BOSTON   .        .  .98 

13.  FROM  NEW  ENGLAND  SOUTH  BY  STEAMER  .     107 

14.  IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON    .  .  .116 

15.  AMONG  THE  RICE  FIELDS   .  .  .128 

1 6.  A  VISIT  TO  A  TURPENTINE  FARM       .  .         .     134 

17.  FLORIDA  AND  ITS  ORANGE  GROVES    .  .     139 

18.  THROUGH  THE  MISSISSIPPI  JETTIES  TO  NEW  ORLEANS      .     149 

19.  A  VISIT  TO  A  SUGAR  PLANTATION      .  .     157 

20.  UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER  TO  ST.  Louis  .         .         .         .164 

21.  INDIAN  CORN  AND  THE  CORN  BELT 172 

22.  A  VISIT  TO  A  GREAT  WHEAT  FARM          .        .        .        .     177 

9 


I  o  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

23.  A  JOURNEY  ON  THE  GREAT  LAKES     .        .        .        .        .185 

24.  THE  IRON  AND  COPPER  MINES  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR  .         .  192 

25.  LIFE  IN  THE  LUMBER  REGIONS 198 

26.  OUR  GREAT  CITIES  ON  THE  LAKES 205 

27.  A  VISIT  TO  NIAGARA  FALLS 212 

28.  TRAVELS  IN  THE  OIL  REGIONS 220 

29.  TRAVELS  IN  THE  COAL  REGIONS         .....  229 

30.  PITTSBURGH  AND  ITS  IRON  WORKS    .....  236 

31.  THE  GREATEST  LAKE  PORT  IN  THE  WORLD      .         .         .  245 

32.  THE  STOCKYARDS  OF  CHICAGO  —  MILWAUKEE   .         .         .  2:2 

33.  THE  WONDERS    AND    TREASURES   OF    THE   ROCKY  MOUN 

TAIN  REGION    .........  259 

34.  A  VISIT  TO  A  GOLD  MINE 266 

35.  A  DAY  IN  A  SILVER  MINE           ....  273 

36.  ACROSS  THE  ROCKIES  TO  SALT  LAKE         ....  280 

37.  RECLAIMING  OUR  WASTE  LANDS 289 

38.  THE  FAIRYLAND  OF  CALIFORNIA         ...                 .  294 

39.  SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  Los  ANGELES    .                 ...  304 

40.  THE  PACIFIC  NORTHWEST  —  PORTLAND      .         .                 .  311 

41.  PUGET  SOUND  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  .        .        .        .  318 

42.  THE  YELLOWSTONE  NATIONAL  PARK  .         .321 

43.  AMONG  THE  INDIANS   .                                                             .  327 

44.  ALASKA         .                                                                                 •  33^ 

45.  ALASKA — FISH.  FURS,  AND  MINERALS                                  .  346 

46.  BRITISH  AMERICA —  TRAVELS  IN  THE  FUR  LANDS     .         .  352 

47.  BRITISH  AMERICA  —  THE  SETTLED  REGIONS      .                  .  359 

48.  SPANISH  NORTH  AMERICA  — MEXICO                                     .  376 

49.  TRAVELS  IN  MEXICO    .                                                             •  384 

50.  CENTRAL  AMERICA 393 

51.  THROUGH  THE  PANAMA  CANAL  TO  NEW  YORK                  .  400 

INDEX                                                              4°  7 


TRAVELS   THROUGH 

NORTH    AMERICA 

i.     GENERAL   VIEW    OF    NORTH    AMERICA 

WE  start  to-day  upon  our  travels  through  North 
America.  We  are  about  to  explore  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  parts  of  the  globe.  It  is  the  grand  divi 
sion  in  which  we  live,  and  most  of  our  time  will  be  spent 
in  that  section  of  it  known  as  the  United  States,  which 
we  are  proud  to  call  our  own  country. 

What  would  you  think  of  a  farmer  who  did  not  know 
his  own  farm,  or  what  he  had  on  it  ?  A  wise  landowner 
will  know  just  where  the  boundaries  of  his  possessions 
are  and  what  line  fences  separate  him  from  his  neighbors. 
He  will  know  every  hill  and  valley,  every  pond  and  stream. 
He  will  go  through  the  woods  to  see  if  there  is  any  game, 
and  will  drop  his  fishing  line  into  the  streams  and  ponds 
to  learn  about  the  fish.  He  will  try  to  learn  what  kind  of 
crop  each  field  will  produce,  and  over  what  roads  he  can 
most  easily  carry  it  to  market.  Perhaps  he  will  dig  in  the 
hills  to  see  if  they  contain  coal,  iron,  or  copper  ;  and  if  any 
one  tells  him  there  is  gold  or  silver  on  his  farm,  you  may 
be  sure  he  will  not  rest  until  he  finds  just  where  it  is.  He 
will  ask  all  sorts  of  questions  about  his  neighbors  :  what 
kind  of  people  they  are,  and  just  how  they  live  ;  and  he  will 


12  NORTH   AMERICA 

not  stop  until  he  is  aware  of  everything  that  is  going  on 
around  him. 

Now  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  country,  together  with 
their  parents,  are  the  owners  of  the  vast  tract  of  land  called 
the  United  States.  It  is  a  part  of  the  grand  division  of  North 
America ;  and  we,  as  its  possessors,  are  interested  in  know 
ing  all  about  its  extent,  its  resources,  and  various  other 
features,  and  also  about  those  of  our  sister  countries  upon 
it.  This  is  what  we  shall  try  to  learn  in  the  travels  we 
are  going  to  take  in  this  book. 

Before  we  start,  let  us  have  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
country.  Suppose,  for  the  moment,  that  we  can  take  a  trip 
to  the  moon,  and  have  there  a  telescope  so  powerful  that 
we  can  see  the  whole  world ;  what  sort  of  a  picture  does 
our  continent  make  when  thus  spread  out  before  us? 

We  see  that  North  and  South  America  are  two  vast  pen 
insulas,  each  almost  surrounded  by  water.  North  America 
is  the  larger,  and  the  narrow  Isthmus  of  Panama,  with  its 
luxuriant  vegetation,  looks  like  a  green  chain  connecting 
the  two.  We  see  that  North  America  lies  in  almost  the 
shape  of  a  triangle,  the  northern  and  eastern  sides  of 
which  are  of  much  the  same  length.  Upon  each  of  these 
two  sides  is  a  great  silvery  spot  where  the  waters  from  the 
ocean  extend  into  the  land.  That  on  the  north  lies  not  far 
from  the  middle  of  the  line,  and  is  Hudson  Bay;  while 
that  on  the  east  lies  near  the  foot  of  the  line  at  the  south, 
and  is  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  with  the  green  island  of  Cuba 
bordering  its  edge. 

As  we  stand  upon  the  moon,  we  may  take  a  rapid  glance 
about  the  coast  of  this  vast  country.  There,  at  the  north 
west,  is  Bering  Strait,  a  thin  line  of  silvery  water  less  than 
forty  miles  wide,  which  separates  North  America  from 
Asia.  Starting  from  this,  our  eyes  travel  southward,  along 


GENERAL   VIEW 


the  western  shores  of   Alaska,  the  Dominion  of   Canada, 
the  United  States,   Mexico,  and  Central  America,  to  the 


North  America  lies  almost  in  the  shape  of  a  Triangle. 

Isthmus  of  Panama.     Here  we  cross,  and,  turning  to  the 


14  NORTH    AMERICA 

left,  make  our  way  along  the  coast  of  the  Caribbean  Sea 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Reaching  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at 
the  southern  point  of  Florida,  we  follow  its  shore  line  to 
New  York  and  New  England.  Farther  north  we  observe 
the  rocky  coasts  of  Newfoundland  and  Labrador;  and 
then  our  eyes,  dazzled  by  the  snow,  roam  among  the  ice 
bergs  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  until  at  last  they  rest  again 
upon  our  starting  point  in  Bering  Strait. 

Such  a  view  shows  us  something  of  the  vast  extent  of 
North  America.  The  line  about  the  coast  is  nowhere  reg 
ular.  It  has  many  capes,  bays,  and  gulfs ;  and  could  we 
measure  its  windings,  we  should  find  that  it  is  almost  as 
long  as  the  distance  round  the  earth. 

Within  this  coast  line  lies  about  one  sixth  of  all  the  dry 
land  on  the  globe.  North  America  is  the  third  in  size 
among  the  grand  divisions.  It  is  more  than  twice  as 
big  as  Europe,  and  is  surpassed  in  area  only  by  Asia  and 
Africa. 

As  we  look  down  upon  this  great  territory  we  see  that 
most  of  it  is  made  up  of  plains,  and  that  in  general  it  con 
sists  of  a  great  central  valley,  or  trough,  running  from  north 
to  south  between  high  lands  and  long  mountain  ranges. 
The  green  Appalachians,  a  little  back  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  form  the  eastern  side  of  the  trough  ;  far  away  in 
the  west  are  the  wide  plateaus  and  the  lofty,  snow-clad 
peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  highland ;  while  between 
these  mountain  regions  lie  the  central  plains  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  the  Saskatchewan,  and  the  Mackenzie  rivers.  These 
plains  reach  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Hudson  Bay  and 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  form  one  of  the  largest  valleys  of 
the  earth. 

Halfway  up  the  valley,  near  the  Great  Lakes,  the 
land  rises  slightly,  making  the  water  parting  called  the 


GENERAL   VIEW  15 

Height  of  Land.  North  of  the  divide,  the  streams  flow 
to  the  northeast  and  north,  and  empty  themselves  into  the 
cold  waters  of  Hudson  Bay  or  the  Arctic  Ocean.  South 
of  it  they  flow  southward  and  are  lost  in  the  warm  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  slopes  of  the  valley  in  both  directions,  how 
ever,  are  so  slight  that  one  may  travel  through  it  from  the 


Scene  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  without  perceiving 
that  he  is  going  up  or  down  hill. 

Let  us  now  fix  the  telescope  directly  upon  our  own  coun 
try.  There  is  the  United  States,  lying  in  the  middle  of 
North  America.  Those  broad  lands  at  the  north  are  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  while  at  the  south  are  Mexico  and 
Central  America,  extending  like  a  handle  to  the  main  body 
of  the  grand  division. 

Think  of  it !  All  that  land  between  Mexico  and  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  belongs  to  us.  What  a  big  country 
it  is !  It  is  so  wide  from  east  to  west  that  it  takes  about 
five  days  and  nights  on  a  fast  railroad  train  to  cross  it ; 
and  its  average  length  from  north  to  south  is  thirteen  hun- 


1 6  NORTH    AMERICA 

dred  miles.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  countries  of  the  world, 
and,  with  the  territory  of  Alaska,  it  has  almost  as  much 
land  as  all  Europe. 

The  United  States  is  a  rich  country.  Those  mountains 
on  its  eastern  edge  contain  millions  of  tons  of  iron,  and 
thousands  of  men  are  now  digging  in  them  to  get  out  the 
ore.  In  those  same  mountains  are  vast  fields  of  coal,  and 
the  streams  which  flow  down  their  slopes  furnish  water 
power  for  thousands  of  factories. 

The  Rocky  Mountain  highland,  in  the  western  part  of 
the  country,  has  vast  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  and 
lead,  and  we  shall  see  the  miners  taking  the  metals  out  of 
the  hills.  There  are  wild  animals  in  the  mountains,  and 
during  our  tour  we  shall  have  splendid  hunting  and  fishing. 

Between  the  eastern  highlands  and  the  great  plateau  of 
the  West  lies  one  of  the  most  fertile  valleys  of  the  world. 
See  those  silvery  lines  which  wind  their  way  through  it, 
as  we  look  down  upon  it  from  the  moon.  They  seem  but 
threads  at  this  distance.  They  are  really  great  rivers,  and 
all  parts  of  the  valley  through  which  they  flow  are  well- 
watered  lands.  That  is  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the 
band  of  silver  running  through  it  from  north  to  south  is 
the  Mississippi  River,  which,  with  its  great  branch,  the 
Missouri,  is  the  longest  river  on  earth. 

But  what  are  those  shining  white  patches  west  of  the 
Appalachians  ?  They  look  quite  large  as  they  lie  there 
below  us.  Those  are  the  Great  Lakes,  some  of  the  biggest 
bodies  of  fresh  water  on  the  globe.  They  are  so  large 
that  they  seem  like  seas,  and  when  we  travel  upon  them 
we  shall  often  be  out  of  sight  of  land. 

The  United  States  is  a  country  of  homes.  We  can  see 
that  its  surface  is  peppered  with  black  dots  and  covered 
with  a  network  of  black  lines.  Those  dots  are  the  cities 


OUR   NATIONAL   CAPITAL  17 

and   towns,  and  the  lines  are  the  railroads.     The  United 
States  has  more  railroads  than  any  other  country. 

It  is  one  of  the  busiest  of  all  lands.  It  contains  so  many 
millions  of  industrious  people,  engaged  in  so  many  differ 
ent  kinds  of  work,  that,  as  our  eyes  move  across  it,  we 
seem  almost  to  hear  the  hum  of  the  machinery,  away  up 
on  the  moon.  The  country  is  so  vast  that  we  hardly 
know  where  to  begin  to  explore  it.  But  there  in  the  East 
is  its  capital,  the  city  of  Washington,  and  from  that  place 
we  shall  start. 


2.     IN    OUR   NATIONAL   CAPITAL 

IT  seems  strange  that  our  national  capital  should  be  so 
far  away  from  the  center  of  the  United  States.  You 
might  think  it  ought  to  be  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  about 
halfway  between  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  It  lies  on  the  Potomac  River,  about  a  hundred 
miles  from  its  mouth,  and  only  a  short  distance  from  the 
Atlantic  coast.  It  is  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Appala 
chian  Mountains,  a  long  way  from  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
and  thousands  of  miles  from  the  lofty  plateaus  of  the 
West.  The  inhabitants  of  Oregon,  California,  and  Wash 
ington  must  travel  five  or  six  days  on  the  cars  if  they  would 
see  the  President ;  and,  indeed,  most  of  our  people  live 
many  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the  national  capital. 

Now  the  capital  of  a  country  is  where  the  chief  officers 
of  its  government  live  and  do  business,  and  the  people  who 
have  business  with  the  government  must  go  there  to  see 
them.  If  it  were  not  for  the  railroads,  this,  for  many  of  us, 
would  be  quite  inconvenient ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  tele- 


i8 


THE   UNITED    STATES 


graph  and  telephone  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
govern  such  a  large  country  from  a  city  so  situated. 

Why  was  the  capital  located  so  far  from  the  center  of 
the  United  States  ? 

The  story  is  connected  with  the  growth  of  our  country. 

When  we  Americans,  by  the  Revolutionary  War,  forced 
England  to  allow  us  to  govern  ourselves,  we  were  few  in 
number,  and  the  most  of  the  people  lived  east  of  the  Ap- 


The  Old  City  of  Washington. 

palachian  Mountains.  The  lands  to  the  westward  were 
held  by  wild  Indians,  and  deer  and  bears  roamed  through 
the  dense  forests.  We  then  owned  no  land  beyond  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  no  one  imagined  that  the  United 
States  would  some  day  extend  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The 
site  of  Washington  city  was  then  in  almost  the  center  of 
the  inhabited  country,  so  that  when  a  location  for  the  capi- 


OUR   NATIONAL    CAPITAL  19 

tal  had  to  be  chosen,  this  was  thought  the  best  place. 
Congress  was  then  sitting  in  Philadelphia.  It  was  before 
the  days  of  railroads,  and  President  Washington  rode  in 
a  carriage  to  the  village  of  Georgetown,  which  is  now  a 
part  of  the  capital,  and  arranged  with  the  farmers  to  sell 


General  View  of  Washington  at  the  Present  Time- 

their  lands  to  the  government.  Soon  after  this  the  work 
of  laying  out  the  city  began ;  but  it  was  almost  ten  years 
before  the  White  House  was  finished  and  a  building  put 
up  on  Capitol  Hill  in  which  Congress  could  come  together 
to  make  laws. 

The  first  President  who  lived  in  Washington  was  John 
Adams.  He  came  alone  to  the  capital,  leaving  his  wife  to 
follow  him.  In  doing  so,  while  traveling  through  the 


20 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


forest  from   Baltimore  to  Washington,  she  lost  her  way, 
and  rode  for  miles  without  seeing  a  human  being. 

At  that  time  a  large  part  of  Washington  stood  in  the 
woods.     There  were  stumps  in  some  of  the  chief  streets, 


One  of  the  Small  Parks  in  Washington. 

and  in  wet  weather  Pennsylvania  Avenue  was  almost  a 
river  of  mud.  The  congressmen  and  other  officials  did 
not  like  the  new  capital.  They  nicknamed  it  the  "Wil 
derness  City,"  the  "  City  of  Miserable  Huts,"  and  the  "  City 
of  Streets  without  Houses."  It  steadily  grew,  however, 
and  is  now  one  of  the  finest  cities  of  the  United  States. 

The  plan  of  Washington  is  an  excellent  one.  From  the 
Capitol  building  as  a  center,  the  city  is  laid  out  in  four 
great  parts,  in  each  of  which  the  streets  cross  one  another 


OUR  NATIONAL    CAPITAL  21 

at  right  angles,  making  them  look  as  if  four  checkerboards 
had  been  there  joined  together.  Through  the  checker 
boards,  running  in  all  directions,  are  wide  avenues,  and 
where  these  avenues  cut  across  the  streets  there  are 
circles  and  triangular  parks.  The  circles  and  triangles  are 
filled  with  statues,  fountains,  flowers,  and  trees,  and  they 
form  one  of  the  chief  beauties  of  the  city. 

Why  were  these  little  parks  so  placed  ? 

It  was  not  so  much  for  beauty  as  for  defense.  The 
man  who  planned  Washington  was  a  Frenchman,  Major 
Pierre  1'Enfant,  who  had  left  Paris  about  the  time  of  the 
French  Revolution,  when  the  mobs  were  destroying  the 
government.  In  laying  out  our  capital  he  had  the  bloody 
scenes  of  Paris  in  his  mind,  and  he  designed  a  city  which 
might  be  easily  defended  and  at  the  same  time  be  beautiful. 
Each  of  the  little  parks  controls  several  streets,  and  a  can 
non  placed  in  its  center  could  be  whirled  around  and  thus 
fire  shot  down  a  half-dozen  different  streets. 

We  shall  take  an  automobile  for  our  tour  through  Wash 
ington.  The  city  has  more  than  two  hundred  miles  of 
streets  as  smooth  as  a  floor.  They  are  paved  with  asphalt, 
and  are  lined  with  shade  trees  whose  branches  often  meet 
overhead,  forming  long  arbors  of  magnificent  maples  and 
elms.  The  city  seems  to  be  built  in  a  forest,  with  lines  of 
houses  rising  out  of  the  trees.  Along  the  streets  back  of 
the  sidewalks  are  wide  strips  of  green  lawn  which  extend 
up  to  the  walls  of  the  houses. 

We  devote  our  first  day  to  a  run  about  the  city.  Some 
of  the  great  government  buildings  are  wide  apart,  and  it  is 
a  full  mile  from  the  White  House  to  the  Capitol,  which  is 
situated  on  a  high  hill  to  the  eastward. 

Farther  on  we  come  to  the  Library  of  Congress.  It 
covers  nearly  four  acres,  and  its  golden  dome,  as  big  as 

CARP.  X.  A. 2 


OUR   NATIONAL  CAPITAL  23 

the  largest  circus  tent,  can  be  seen  shining  in  the  sunlight 
for  many  miles  about  Washington. 

Leaving  the  library,  we  ride  to  the  navy  yard,  on  the 
eastern  branch  of  the  Potomac.  The  soldiers  guarding 
the  gate  allow  us  to  pass  in,  and  we  visit  the  foundries 
where  the  great  guns  for  our  battleships  are  made.  We 
next  go  to  the  arsenal  to  watch  the  parade  of  the  soldiers 
who  are  here  to  guard  our  capital  city,  and  then  make  our 
way  back  to  the  White  House  through  the  long  park 
known  as  the  Mall,  which  lies  south  of  Pennsylvania 
Avenue.  This  park  is  filled  with  beautiful  trees,  under 
the  branches  of  which  we  ride,  passing  the  white  stone 


"  We  come  to  the  Library  of  Congress." 

building  of  the  National  Museum,  going  by  the  great  brown- 
stone  castle-like  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  then  on 
among  the  beautiful  flower  beds  behind  which  stand  the 
offices  and  laboratories  of  the  Agricultural  Department. 


24 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


A  little  farther  on,  we  leave  the  trees  and  enter  a  large 
green  field,  one  edge  of  which  is  washed  by  the  waters  of 
the  Potomac  River,  and  here  we  see  the  high  stone  shaft 
built  in  memory  of  George  Washington. 

The  Washington  Monument  is  visible  from  any  part  of 
the  city.  At  a  long  distance  it  looks  like  a  big  piece  of 


The  Smithsonian  Institution. 

chalk  with  a  well-sharpened  point.  It  seems  to  grow  as  we 
come  toward  it.  It  gets  bigger  and  bigger,  and  as  we  walk 
up  the  little  hill  on  the  bank  of  the  Potomac  where  it  stands, 
and  put  our  chins  against  its  side,  and  look  upward  it  ap 
pears  to  be  a  great  marble  wall  built  right  up  into  the  sky. 
The  monument  is  made  up  of  blocks  of  white  marble,  so 
closely  joined  together  that  you  can  hardly  see  where  one 
stone  fits  into  another.  It  is  fifty-five  feet  square  at  the 
base,  and  its  slope  is  so  gradual  that,  if  you  could  slice  off 


OUR    NATIONAL   CAPITAL 


the  top  where  the  shaft  begins  to  verge  to  a  point,  you 
could  build  there  a  house  with  four  large  rooms  on  each  floor, 
and  its  outer  walls  would  not  be  outside  the  monument 

There  is  an  elevator  inside  this  huge  structure,  and  as 

we  ride  to  the  top    the i 

man  in  charge  tells  us 
that  it  is  more  than  five 
hundred  and  fifty-five 
feet  in  height. 

As  we  stand  again  at 
the  foot  of  the  monu 
ment  and  look  toward 
the  north,  we  face  three 
of  our  chief  government 
buildings.  There,  at  the 
left,  is  the  big  granite 
building  of  the  State, 
War,  and  Navy  Depart 
ments  ;  at  the  right  is 
the  somber  gray  Treas 
ury,  where  much  of  our 
national  money  is  kept; 
and  in  the  center  shines 
out  the  White  House, 
where  our  President 
lives. 

We  look  at  our  watches, 
however,  and  find  that  it 
is  too  late  to  do  more  to-day.     It  is  almost  half-past  four 
o'clock,  and  the  government  offices  are  ready  to  close. 

As  we  reach  the  Treasury  a  mass  of  men  and  women 
pours  forth  from  the  doors  which  face  Pennsylvania  Ave 
nue.  At  the  same  time  the  other  departments  of  the 


Washing-ton  Monument. 


26 


WASHINGTON 


government  dismiss  their  employees,  and  the  streets  are 
almost  blocked  with  clerks  on  their  way  home  from  work. 
We  find  that  it  takes  several  hundred  thousand  people 
to  do  the  public  work  of  the  United  States,  and  that  about 
thirty  thousand  persons  are  needed  to  keep  the  books  and 
carry  on  the  national  business  at  Washington. 


3.     A    VISIT    TO     THE     PRESIDENT    AND    TO 
THE   HALLS   OF  CONGRESS 

OUR  first  trip  to-day  shall  be  to  the  White  House.     We 
are   to   meet   the    President    of   the  United  States. 
After  that  we  shall  go  to  the  Capitol  and  see  something  of 

Congress  and  the 
Supreme  Court. 
Our  govern 
ment  is  composed 
of  three  branches: 
the  legislative 
branch,  or  Con 
gress,  which 
makes  the  laws; 
the  executive 
branch,  consist 
ing  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  his  offi 
cials,  which  carries  out  the  laws;  and  the  judicial,  or  the 
courts,  established  in  order  to  define  the  meaning  of  the 
laws.  The  President  is  called  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
United  States.  He  is,  in  fact,  our  business  manager.  He 


The  White  House. 


THE   WHITE   HOUSE 


27 


is  elected  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  receives  a  salary  of 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  a  year.  He  is  also  allowed 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  traveling  expenses. 
We  stroll  up  past  the  Treasury,  and  soon  come  to  the 
White  House  grounds.  The  gates  are  wide  open,  and  we 
walk  undisturbed  along  the  roadway  which  leads  to  the  great 

porch  before  the  front  door. 
Here  we  stop  to  take  a 
good  look  at  the  White  House 
before  we  enter.  It  is  made 
of  sandstone,  but  is  so  painted 
that  it  seems  like  a  marble 
palace  shining  among  the  big 
trees  which  surround  it.  A 
lawn  of  velvety  green  lies 
between  it  and  the  sidewalk, 
and  on  our  way  in  we  pass  a 
fountain  which  sends  thou 
sands  of  silvery  drops  high 
into  the  air. 

The    doors  before  us  are 
of   plate  glass    set  in  brass 

frames.  A  little  farther  in  are  other  doors  of  polished 
mahogany  which  have  brass  knobs  decorated  with  stars. 
Now  the  doors  have  opened  and  a  messenger  invites  us 
to  enter.  We  take  a  few  steps  and  are  in  the  Executive 
Mansion,  in  the  home  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
where  all  our  presidents  have  lived  since  the  year  1800. 

The  Executive  Mansion  was  the  first  public  building 
erected  at  our  National  Capital.  George  Washington  se 
lected  the  site,  and  was  present  in  1792  when  the  corner 
stone  was  laid.  He  lived  to  see  the  building  completed, 
for  it  is  said  he  walked  through  its  rooms  only  a  few  days 


Front  Door  of  the  White  House. 


28  WASHINGTON 

before  his  death  in  1799.  His  successor,  John  Adams, 
was  the  first  President  to  occupy  it.  During  the  War  of 
1812  the  British  captured  the  city  and  set  fire  to  the  Exec 
utive  Mansion,  burning  much  of  the  woodwork  and  blacken 
ing  the  stone  walls.  When  it  was  repaired,  the  walls  were 
painted  white,  and  from  that  came  the  name  "The  White 
House,"  by  which  it  is  commonly  known  to  this  day, 
although  its  real  title  is  The  Executive  Mansion. 

The  first  room  we  see  shows  us  the  size  of  the  building. 
It  is  called  the  Vestibule,  but  it  is  four  times  as  big  as  the 
ordinary  parlor.  It  has  a  high  ceiling  upheld  at  the  back 
by  white  pillars,  beyond  which  is  the  corridor  leading  to 
the  reception  rooms. 

Turning  to  the  left  through  this  hall,  we  first  visit  the 
East  Room,  which  takes  up  the  whole  east  side  of  the  White 
House.  Its  ceiling  is  about  twice  as  high  as  that  of  the 
average  schoolroom.  The  floor  is  of  hard  wood,  beautifully 
finished,  and  so  brightly  polished  that  it  shines  like  a  mirror. 

The  walls  of  the  East  Room  are  decorated  in  white. 
From  its  ceiling  hang  chandeliers,  upon  which  are  thou 
sands  of  pieces  of  cut  glass.  In  the  walls  are  set  four  great 
mirrors,  each  as  big  as  the  largest  store  window,  in  which, 
when  the  chandeliers  are  lighted  for  the  President's  even 
ing  parties,  the  glass  pendants  shine  like  diamonds.  At 
such  times  there  are  often  great  banks  of  cut  flowers  below 
the  mirrors,  and  flowers  and  ferns  are  wreathed  through 
out  every  part  of  the  vast  room.  There  are  palm  trees  and 
tropical  plants  in  the  corners  and  in  the  windows.  The 
parlor  is  filled  with  gayly  dressed  people,  and  the  whole 
makes  one  think  of  fairyland. 

At  the  end  of  the  East  Room  we  enter  the  Green  Room, 
a  parlor  furnished  in  green  and  silver,  and  from  there  go 
into  the  famous  Blue  Room,  where  the  President  stands, 


THE   WHITE   HOUSE 


29 


with  his  wife,  and  shakes  hands  with  those  who  come  to 
his  evening  receptions.  The  Blue  Room  is  oval  in  shape. 
Its  furniture  is  of  wood  decorated  with  gold  leaf,  and  cush 
ioned  with  satin  fine  enough  for  the  dress  of  a  queen. 

Farther  on  is  a  room  the  walls  of  which  are  decorated 
with  red  silk  velvet.  This  is  the  Red  Room  and  beyond  it  is 
the  state  dining  room,  where  the  President  gives  his  dinners 
to  the  highest  officials  and  other  famous  people.  This  room 


The  President's  Office. 

is  walled  with  oak,  beautifully  carved.  The  mounted 
heads  of  moose,  buffalo,  and  bear,  and  others  of  the  big 
game  of  America,  look  down  upon  us,  and  we  are  told  that 
some  of  the  animals  to  which  they  belonged  were  shot  by 
President  Roosevelt. 

We  are  in  the  state  dining  room  when  a  messenger  tells 
us  the  President  has  consented  to  see  us.     His  offices  are 


3° 


WASHINGTON 


at  the  western  end  of  the  grounds,  connected  by  a  passage 
way  with  the  main  body  of  the  White  House.  We  go  with  the 
messenger  to  the  door  of  the  President's  office,  and  a  moment 
later  are  standing  in  the  presence  of  the  Chief  Executive 
of  the  United  States.  He  rises  and  offers  his  hand,  and  we 
are  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  he  is  not  very  different 
from  other  men  we  have  known.  He  treats  us  kindly,  and 


The  Capitol. 

chats  with  us  for  a  few  moments  about  himself  and  his  work. 
Our  President  has  much  to  do.  He  has  a  vast  number 
of  officials  under  him,  both  here  and  in  all  parts  of  the 
country;  and  he  is  kept  busy  from  daylight  to  dark  direct 
ing  the  affairs  of  the  government.  As  we  go  out  we 
hear  the  click,  click,  click  of  telegraph  instruments,  and 
are  told  that  operators  are  kept  in  the  White  House  to  send 
out  the  President's  orders  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 


THE    CAPITOL  31 

Later  on  we  are  shown  the  Cabinet  Room,  where,  three 
times  a  week,  the  President  meets  with  the  men  who  pre 
side  over  the  different  departments  of  the  government. 
Here  he  counsels  with  them  and  decides  what  shall  be 
done  as  to  matters  relating  to  the  business  of  the  nation. 

Leaving  the  White  House,  we  ride  through  Potomac 
Park  to  the  great  marble  memorial  to  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  then  ride  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  the  Capitol. 

What  a  beautiful  building  it  is  !  As  we  look  up  at  it 
from  the  edge  of  the  park  which  surrounds  it,  it  appears 
like  a  huge  marble  palace  with  a  great  white  dome  float 
ing,  as  it  were,  in  the  blue  sky.  Coming  nearer,  the  build 
ing  grows  larger  and  larger,  and  we  believe  the  guide  when 
he  says  that  it  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  but 
also  the  largest,  building  of  its  kind  ever  erected.  It  covers 
three  and  one  half  acres  of  ground,  and  it  has  so  many 
rooms  that  there  are  parts  of  it  in  which  we  might  get  lost 
and  wander  about  a  long  time  without  finding  our  way  out. 

Entering  the  Capitol,  we  pass  through  halls  swarming 
with  people.  It  is  a  city  in  itself,  the  chief  business  of 
which  is  to  make  laws  for  our  nation.  The  two  great  law- 
making  bodies  are  at  the  opposite  ends  of  the  building.  In 
the  south  wing  is  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  in  the  north  the  chamber  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
while  a  wide  corridor  runs  across  the  building  from  the 
one  to  the  other. 

We  enter  at  the  House  side,  and,  pushing  our  way 
through  the  crowd,  soon  find  ourselves  in  the  gallery  of 
the  biggest  legislative  room  of  the  world.  We  are  in  the 
hail  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  floor  below  us 
is  so  large  that  it  could  be  divided  into  twenty-eight  par 
lors,  each  sixteen  feet  square.  The  ceiling  is  so  high  above 
the  floor  that  six  of  the  tallest  men  might  stand  there  one 


32 


WASHINGTON 


on  the  head  of  the  other,  and  if  the  stockings  of  the  first 
rested  upon  the  carpet,  the  hair  of  the  sixth  would  just 
graze  the  ceiling.  Below  the  ceiling,  running  all  around 
the  room,  are  banks  of  galleries  which  begin  at  the  edge  of 
a  great  central  pit  and  slope  upward  to  the  walls. 


"We  can  look  down  upon  our  representatives." 

As  we  sit  in  the  galleries,  we  can  look  down  into  this  pit 
upon  our  representatives  at  work.  Each  has  his  own  chair, 
the  seats  running  around  the  room  in  the  shape  of  a  half- 
moon  about  a  high  platform  at  one  side  of  the  hall.  Upon 
the  platform  is  a  marble  pulpit,  with  the  American  eagle 
hanging  out  from  the  wall  above  it.  That  pulpit  is  the 
Speaker's  desk,  and  the  man  who  sits  behind  it  is  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  who  keeps  order  and  says  what  shall 
be  done.  He  has  an  ivory-headed  mallet  with  which  he 


THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES 


33 


often  pounds  upon  the  desk,  in  order  to  make  members 
stop  talking. 

But  who  are  the  little  boys  with  the  bright  silver  badges 
about  the  size  of  a  half  dollar  on  their  coats,  running  to 
and  fro  with  letters  and  papers  in  their  hands  ?     They  do 
not  seem  to  be  more  than  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  of  age.   Those  are  the  pages.    They  run 
errands  for  the  congressmen ;    and  each  re 
ceives  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  day  for  his 
work.     When  a  congressman  wants  a  page, 
he  claps  his  hands,,  and  the  boys  run  to  him 
from  their  seats  on  the  steps  of  the  Speaker's 
platform   to  get  his   orders.     We   shall  find 
other  boys  doing  the  same  work  in  the  Senate. 

But  what  are  the  duties  of  our  represent 
atives  ?  In  connection  with  the  Senate, 
they  make  the  laws  to  govern  this  big  country 
of  ours.  No  national  law  can  be  enforced 
until  a  majority  of  both  representatives  and 
senators  have  voted  for  it  and  it  has  been  approved  by  the 
President. 

And  how  do  they  become  congressmen? 

The  people  of  the  United  States  choose  the  represent 
atives.  The  states  are  divided  into  congressional  districts, 
each  containing  about  the  same  number  of  people.  Every 
district  has  the  right  to  one  member  of  Congress,  and  its 
voters  choose  who  he  shall  be. 

And  are  the  senators  chosen  in  the  same  way? 

No ;  not  exactly.  Every  state  has  the  right  to  two  sen 
ators,  little  Rhode  Island  having  just  as  many  as  Texas, 
which  is  more  than  two  hundred  times  as  big.  Each  sena 
tor  is  elected  by  the  voters  of  a  whole  state. 

Each  senator  and  each  representative  gets  a  salary  of 


A  Page. 


34  WASHINGTON 

seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  a  year;  but  the  repre 
sentatives  are  elected  for  only  two  years,  while  the  Sena 
tors  are  chosen  for  six.  The  representatives  choose  their 
own  Speaker,  or  presiding  officer;  but  the  Vice  President 
of  the  United  States  is  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate. 

Let  us  now  leave  Congress  and  take  a  look  at  the  Su 
preme  Court.  We  push  our  way  through  the  crowd  about 
the  doors  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  pass  on  into 
a  hall  filled  with  the  marble  statues  of  some  of  the  great 
est  men  of  our  history. 

We  go  through  the  rotunda,  or  circular  room  under  the 
dome,  and  then  on  into  the  passageway  which  leads  to  the 
Senate  chamber. 

Here  we  are  stopped  by  a  messenger  while  a  curious 
procession  crosses  the  hall.  It  consists  of  nine  men  in 
long  gowns  of  black  silk.  How  dignified  they  seem,  and  how 
quiet  every  one  is  as  they  go  by!  Those  are  the  Supreme 
Court  justices.  They  are  the  heads  of  the  judicial  branch 
of  our  government,  and  are  on  their  way  to  the  court  room. 

Now  they  have  passed,  and  we  can  go  into  the  same 
room,  though  by  another  door.  We  enter  just  in  time  to 
hear  the  marshal  of  the  court  cry  out :  — 

"  Oyez  !  oyez !  oyez!  All  persons  having  business  be 
fore  the  honorable  Supreme  Court  are  admonished  to  draw 
near  and  give  their  attention.  The  court  is  now  sitting. 
God  save  the  United  States  and  this  honorable  court !  " 

He  sings  this  out  in  loud  tones,  running  the  words 
together  into  one  sentence,  and  saying  them  all  in  a  breath. 

As  he  does  so  the  justices  are  seating  themselves  be 
hind  a  long  mahogany  table  on  a  platform  at  the  back  of 
the  room,  their  armchairs  resting  against  columns  of  black- 
and-gray  marble.  The  chief  justice  is  in  the  center.  His 
chair  is  under  a  purple  canopy,  out  of  which  a  golden 


THE   STATE   DEPARTMENT  35 

American  eagle,  holding  in  its  beak  a  strip  of  metal,  upon 
which  are  painted  the  words,  "  In  God  we  trust,"  looks 
down  with  fierce  eyes  upon  him. 

The  lawyers  and  others  who  have  business  before  the 
Supreme  Court  are  seated  in  a  little  inclosure  below  the 
bench.  Back  of  them,  against  the  wall,  are  the  visitors,  in 
cluding  ourselves. 

It  is  usually  quiet  in  the  Supreme  Court,  for  this  is  the 
most  dignified  branch  of  our  government.  It  is  so  quiet 
to-day,  in  fact,  that  we  feel  like  going  to  sleep  after  our 
hard  day's  sight-seeing.  We  are  frightened  as  we  catch 
ourselves  nodding;  and  we  rise,  and  slip  gently  out,  and 
make  our  way  back  to  our  hotel. 


4.  THE  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  GOVERN 
MENT—STATE,  WAR,  NAVY,  AND 
TREASURY 

THIS   is  our  last  day  in  Washington,  and  there  is   so 
much  more  to  be  seen  that  we  hardly  know  where  to 
begin.     We  first  visit  the  big  granite  building   containing 
the  State,  War,  and  Navy 
Departments. 

The  State  Department 
has  charge  of  the  busi 
ness  between  the  United 
States  and  foreign  na-  Jefferson's  Desk. 

tions.  Its  offices  take  up  the  south  end  of  the  building. 
Here  all  our  treaties,  or  contracts  with  other  nations,  and 
our  most  important  state  papers,  are  carefully  preserved. 


36  WASHINGTON 

In  the  library  is  kept  the  original  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  and  also  the  little  mahogany  desk  upon  which 
Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  it.  The  desk  is  so  small  that  you 
could  easily  take  it  on  your  lap.  It  has  little  drawers  for 
pens  and  writing  materials ;  and,  upon  lifting  the  lid,  we 
see  pasted  upon  the  under  side  a  note  in  President  Jef- 


The  State,  War,  and  Navy  Building. 

ferson's  own  handwriting,  stating  that  it  was  upon  this  desk 
that  he  penned  that  famous  paper. 

But  who  are  those  queer-looking  people  we  see  as  we 
go  through  the  halls  ? 

They  have  yellow  faces  and  queerly  shaped  eyes.  They 
are  the  Chinese  Minister  and  two  of  his  clerks.  They  have 
come  to  call  upon  the  Secretary  of  State  about  some  mat 
ter  of  dispute  between  their  nation  and  ours.  If  we  wait 


THE   NAVY   DEPARTMENT 


37 


here  we  may  possibly  see  the  Ambassador  from  Japan  or 
the  Ambassador  from  Russia  or  Italy  come  in.  All  the 
great  nations  of  the  world  send  men  to  Washington  to  at 
tend  to  the  business  which  their  governments  have  with 
the  United  States ;  and  our  President  sends  his  ministers 
to  other  capitals  all  over  the  world  and  consuls  to  every 
great  foreign  city.  The  United  States  exports  goods  to  all 
parts  of  the  world  and  the  consuls  are  expected  to  look  out 
for  new  markets  in  the  countries  to  which  they  are  sent,  and 
for  information  that  will  increase  our  commerce  abroad. 


"  One  of  our  great  cruisers." 

The  Navy  Department  is  in  the  side  of  the  building 
which  faces  the  White  House.  Here  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  has  his  offices,  and  here  his  many  clerks  are  at  work. 
A  country  like  ours  must  have  war  ships  to  defend  it. 
There  is  always  danger  that  some  other  nation  may  have 
trouble  with  us  and  may  send  gunboats  to  destroy  our  cities 
on  the  seacoast.  For  such  reasons  every  great  nation  must 
have  a  navy.  We  know  we  are  in  the  Navy  Department  by 
the  models  of  war  vessels  which  we  see  in  the  halls.  The 
models  are  toy  ships,  in  all  their  parts  exactly  like  our  men- 

CAKP.  N.  A.  — 3 


38  WASHINGTON 

of-war,  only  hundreds  of  times  less  in  size;  by  looking  at 
them  we  can  learn  something  about  the  real  war  vessels, 
and  just  how  they  work. 

Here,  for  instance,  is  a  model  of  one  of  our  great  cruisers. 
The  model  is  so  small  that  you  could  put  it  in  a  two-bushel 
basket ;  but  the  ship  it  represents  is  as  long  as  a  city  block, 
and  so  wide  that  it  would  fill  an  ordinary  street.  The 
cruiser  is  made  almost  altogether  of  steel,  and  its  outside 
is  covered  with  steel  plates  several  inches  thick,  in  order 
that  the  balls  fired  at  it  may  not  go  through  it. 

The  guns  of  this  cruiser  are  of  many  kinds.  Some  will 
send  a  shower  of  bullets  at  the  enemy,  hundreds  of  balls  fly 
ing  forth  in  a  minute.  It  has  cannon  of  several  sizes  ;  the 
largest  of  which  are  so  big  that  it  takes  two  bushels  of  pow 
der  to  fire  them,  and  so  powerful  that  they  will  send  shells 
of  solid  steel,  weighing  as  much  as  three  full-grown  men, 
twelve  miles  at  one  shot.  The  war  ships  of  other  nations 

have  similar  guns,  and 
hence  you  see  why  we 
must  have  steel-plated 
vessels  to  fight  them. 
There  are  many  of 
these  large  cruisers 
and  battleships  in  our 
navy.  There  are 
smaller  war  vessels, 

A  Modern  Coast-defense  Rifle.  known     as     Commerce 

destroyers,  which  can  go  very  fast,  and  can  capture  the 
merchant  ships  of  an  enemy,  or  drive  them  from  the  seas. 
There  are  torpedo  boats,  which  are  very  small  war  ships, 
and  submarines,  which  travel  below  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Torpedo  boats  and  submarines  send  out  torpedoes 
under  water  to  explode  against  the  war  ships  of  an  enemy, 


THE   TREASURY    DEPARTMENT 


39 


and  sink  them  by  making  holes  in  their  sides.  These 
things  show  us  how  terrible  war  is  and  we  should  be  glad 
if  our  country  could  always  be  at  peace  with  other  nations. 

We  feel  this  the  more  during  our  visit  to  the  War  De 
partment,  which  has  to  do  with  the  army.  We  must  have 
soldiers  upon  land  to  defend  us  as  well  as  ships  upon  the 
sea ;  and  we  also  need  troops  in  some  parts  of  the  United 
States  to  protect  us  from  the  Indians 
and  to  keep  them  in  order.  The 
United  States  has  but  a  small  number 
of  soldiers  in  comparison  with  other 
nations.  In  times  of  peace  less  than 
two  hundred  thousand  are  required  by 
our  great  country  with  its  millions  of 
people.  We  wonder  at  this,  and  ask 
one  of  the  generals  why  the  army  is 
so  small. 

He  replies  that  numbers  do  not  give 
any  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  Amer 
ican  nation.  He  tells  us  that  every 
state  has  its  militia,  so  that  within  a 
few  hours  several  hundred  thousand  more  men  could  be 
put  under  arms ;  and  he  says  that  the  United  States,  in 
case  of  great  need,  has  so  many  people  that  it  could  fur 
nish  about  five  million  fighting  men. 

Passing  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  we  visit  the  Treas 
ury  Department,  which  has  to  do  with  the  money  of  the 
government.  A  vast  sum  is  needed  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
the  employees,  to  carry  the  mails,  and  to  perform  other 
kinds  of  government  work. 

This  money  comes,  in  part,  from  a  tax  on  the  incomes  of 
corporations  and  of  people  who  have  or  make  a  great  deal 
of  money.  More  of  it  comes  from  the  tariff  on  imports, 


A  Soldier. 


4o 


WASHINGTON 


or  taxes  upon  things  from  foreign  lands  which  are  brought 
into  this  country  for  sale.  When  ships  arrive  at  any  of  our 
seaports  they  are  examined  by  the  customs  officers  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  upon  certain  kinds  of  goods  a 
tariff,  or  tax,  is  collected.  This  tax  is  a  stated  amount 
for  each  yard,  gallon,  or  pound  of  the  material,  or  a  cer 
tain  percentage  of  the  cost  of  the  goods  in  the  land  from 
which  they  have  been  brought.  This  amount  is  usually 
added  by  the  importers  to  the  price  asked  for  the  goods,  so 


The  Treasury  Building. 

that  when  we  buy  them  it  is  ourselves  who  really  pay  the 
tax. 

Other  taxes  come  from  certain  goods  manufactured  in 
our  own  country.  These  are  known  as  revenue  taxes ;  and 
are  collected  only  on  spirituous  liquors,  such  as  whisky, 
brandy,  and  beer,  and  upon  manufactures  of  tobacco  for 
chewing,  smoking,  and  snuffing.  Such  taxes  must  also 
be  added  to  the  cost  of  the  articles  taxed,  and  so  the 
people  who  use  them,  and  not  the  manufacturers,  are  really 
the  persons  who  pay.  In  addition,  the  government  gets 


THE   TREASURY   DEPARTMENT 


some  money  from  its  sales  of  public  lands,  from  postage 
stamps,  and  from  various  other  sources. 

The  money  is  sent  to  the  Treasury  Department  to  be 
kept  until  needed,  and  there  is  usually  a  vast  amount  on 
hand.  We  open  our  eyes  wide  when  the  guide  takes  us 
down  into  the  vaults 
and  shows  us  how  mil 
lions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  gold  and  silver  are 
stored  there,  being  i^^^™ 
guarded  day  and  night  l^^i^rf 
by  watchmen.  In 
other  rooms  we  see 
piles  of  crisp  new  bank 
notes,  and  watch  the 
hundreds  of  clerks 
who  are  handling  old 
and  new  paper  money. 

The  Treasury  De 
partment  makes  all  of 
our  paper  money.  The 
money  factory  is  in  a 

large  brick  building  which  lies  just  beyond  the  Washington 
Monument.  Let  us  visit  it.  We  hear  the  rattle  of  the 
machinery  as  we  enter  the  door,  and  the  guide  takes  us 
through  room  after  room  in  which,  behind  walls  of  iron 
latticework,  scores  of  men  and  women  are  busy  printing 
bank  notes.  The  women  wear  aprons  over  their  dresses, 
and  the  men  have  their  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up  to  their 
shoulders.  The  printing  is  dirty  work,  and  every  one 
in  the  press  room  is  spotted  with  ink.  In  another  place 
are  the  engravers,  who  with  sharp  tools  are  cutting  out 
of  steel  fine  pictures  such  as  you  see  upon  our  bank 


Interior  of  the  Treasury  Vaults. 


42  WASHINGTON 

notes.  In  other  rooms  there  are  wonderful  engraving 
machines. 

How  carefully  everything  is  guarded !  We  meet  watch 
men  everywhere,  and  there  are  steel  vaults  where  the 
plates  for  making  the  bank  notes  are  stored  at  night.  Not 
one  of  the  employees  can  leave  the  building  until  every 
note  on  hand  has  been  counted  and  every  sheet  of  paper 
and  every  printing  plate  is  known  to  be  in  its  place.  This 
is  to  prevent  counterfeiters  from  stealing  the  plates  and 
paper  and  making  money  for  themselves. 

As  we  go  through  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Print 
ing,  we  get  some  idea  of  the  wealth  of  our  nation  by  seeing 
the  bank  notes  required  for  its  business.  Notes  represent 
ing  millions  of  dollars  are  printed  here  in  a  day.  There 
are  scores  of  women  who  do  nothing  else  but  count  bank 
notes.  How  fast  they  work !  Their  fingers  go  like  light 
ning.  They  do  not  move  their  lips,  but  they  count  the 
bills  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  a  minute. 

After  being  counted,  the  notes  are  put  into  a  great  steel 
box  upon  wheels  and  taken  to  the  Treasury  Department, 
from  where  they  are  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Our  government  never  sends  out  a  bank  note  a  second  time, 
and  it  is  always  ready  to  exchange  new  bills  for  old  ones. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  old  bank  notes  ? 

Come  with  me,  and  I  will  show  you.  All  the  old  money 
received  at  the  Treasury  is  destroyed.  As  soon  as  the 
bank  notes  come  in,  they  are  cut  in  halves  and  carried  in  a 
closed  steel  wagon  to  the  basement  of  this  money  mill. 
We  go  down  the  stairs  and  watch  the  wagon  unloaded. 
The  cut  notes  are  put  into  a  big  round  iron  pot,  in  which 
they  are  ground  up  by  machinery  and  cooked  and  steamed 
until  they  become  a  pulpy  mixture  which  looks  like  mush. 
Sometimes  notes  that  were  once  worth  more  than  two  mil- 


THE    DEPARTMENT   OF    JUSTICE  43 

lion  dollars  form  the  grist  for  one  grinding.  Think  of  a 
pot  of  mush  made  of  two  million  dollars  in  bank  notes ! 
Would  you  not  like  a  good  bowl  of  the  meal  before  it  is 
thrown  into  the  kettle  ?  There  is,  however,  no  chance  to 
get  at  any  of  this  money ;  and  the  government  grinds  it 
up  in  order  to  prevent  any  one  from  stealing  the  notes  and 
using  them  as  money  again. 

It  is  in  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing  that  our 
postage  stamps  are  made.  The  process  is  much  the  same 
as  that  of  printing  the  bank  notes,  and  the  stamps  are 
carefully  watched  that  none  may  be  lost.  After  printing, 
they  are  gummed  by  machinery.  Then  the  little  holes  are 
cut  around  them  by  wheels,  on  somewhat  the  same  prin 
ciple  as  dough  is  cut  in  making  animal  crackers. 

5.  THE  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  GOVERN 
MENT—JUSTICE,  POST  OFFICE,  INTE 
RIOR,  COMMERCE,  LABOR,  AND  AGRI 
CULTURE 

LEAVING  the  Treasury,  we  visit  the  Department  of 
Justice,  where  we  call  upon  the  Attorney  General,  or 
chief  law  officer  of  our  government.  It  is  important  that 
all  things  connected  with  the  administration  of  our  public 
affairs  should  be  done  according  to  law;  and  the  Attorney 
Genera],  who  is  a  trained  lawyer,  gives  his  advice  to  the 
President  or  to  the  heads  of  the  other  executive  departments 
as  to  any  questions  of  law  that  come  up.  The  Attorney 
General  appears  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  important 
government  cases,  atid  he  has  the  superintendence  of  the 
United  States  attorneys  and  marshals  in  the  different  parts 
of  our  country. 


44  WASHINGTON 

From  there  we  go  to  the  Post  Office  Department  to  learn 
how  our  letters  are  carried  over  the  United  States  and  the 
world.  The  Postmaster  General  describes  our  vast  postal 
system  and  shows  us  maps  of  the  various  mail  routes,  tell 
ing  us  there  are  so  many  in  the  Union  that  if  they  could 
be  stretched  out  in  one  long  line,  they  would  reach  to  a 
distance  twice  as  far  as  that  from  the  earth  to  the  moon. 

Most  of  the  mail  is  carried  over  the  country  on  the  rail 
roads  in  cars  made  for  the  purpose.  It  is  taken  to  the  post 
offices  of  the  cities  and  villages,  where  it  is  distributed,  some 
of  it  going  out  to  the  farmers  in  the  wagons  of  the  rural 
free  delivery  messengers.  In  the  cities  the  greater  part  is 
delivered  at  the  doors  of  the  houses  by  postmen  on  foot. 

During  our  stay  in  this  Department  we  go  to  the  money- 
order  division,  where  we  are  told  that  money  orders  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  five  hundred  million  dollars  pass 
through  our  home  mails  every  year  and  that  tens  of  millions 
are  thus  sent  from  the  United  States  to  other  parts  of  the 
globe.  All  the  nations  of  the  world  have  now  combined  in 
sending  their  mail,  and  for  two  cents  one  can  send  a  post 
card  anywhere  around  the  earth,  or  for  five  cents  a  sealed 
letter  to  almost  any  place  on  it. 

But  what  are  those  men  and  women  doing  in  that  office 
there  at  the  side  of  the  hall?  They  seem  to  be  opening 
letters  not  addressed  to  them  or  to  the  government  officers. 
We  thought  no  one  had  the  right  to  open  another  man's 
letter.  But  see !  those  clerks  are  reading  the  letters 
and  putting  them  in  new  envelopes  for  mailing  again  ! 
That  is  the  dead-letter  office.  When  a  letter  is  so  badly 
addressed  that  the  postman  cannot  read  the  writing,  or 
when  he  is  unable  to  find  the  person  tcrwhom  it  is  directed, 
that  letter  is  called  dead. 

Such  letters  are   forwarded  to  the  Post  Office  Depart- 


Post  Office  Department,  Washington,  D.C. 


46  WASHINGTON 

ment,  where  the  clerks  open  them,  and,  when  possible, 
send  them  back  to  the  writers.  Thousands  of  dead  letters 
are  received  here  every  day  and  millions  of  them  in  a  year. 
We  learn  that  some  people  are  so  careless  about  their  money 
that  notes  and  drafts  to  the  amount  of  more  than  a  mil 
lion  dollars  are  put  into  the  mails  every  year  in  envelopes 
so  badly  addressed  that  they  go  to  the  dead-letter  office.  In 
some  cases  not  even  the  signatures  of  the  writers  can  be 
made  out,  and  both  money  and  letters  are  lost  to  their 
owners. 

Leaving  the  Post  Office  Department,  we  visit  the  great 
stone  structures  of  the  Interior  Department.  This  depart 
ment  has  to  do  with  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States, 
with  education,  with  patents,  pensions,  the  Indians,  and 
with  various  other  matters. 

In  the  Patent  Office  we  are  shown  the  drawings  of  many 
inventions  made  by  Americans.  Our  people  are  very  in 
genious.  We  are  told  that  they  have  produced  more  than 
two  fifths  of  all  the  important  inventions  already  discovered, 
and  that  often  as  many  as  twenty-five  thousand  patents 
are  taken  out  in  one  year.  The  inventions  are  of  every 
description,  ranging  in  size  from  pills  as  small  as  the  head 
of  a  pin  to  balloons  as  big  as  the  Capitol  dome,  and  in 
machinery  from  mechanical  toys  to  steam  engines. 

When  a  thing  is  patented,  for  a  certain  time  thereafter 
it  belongs  to  the  inventor,  and  he  can  charge  what  he  pleases 
for  the  right  to  make  it.  Upon  such  rights  have  been 
built  up  our  great  manufacturing  interests,  employing 
many  hundred  thousand  people  and  millions  of  dollars. 

One  of  the  lessons  of  the  Patent  Office  is  that  we  should 
not  despise  little  things.  Some  petty  inventions  have 
made  their  owners  rich.  The  patent  for  the  rubber  tip  on 
the  end  of  your  pencil,  for  instance,  was  worth  more 


THE   DEPARTMENT   OF    AGRICULTURE  47 

than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the  man  who  first 
thought  of  it.  The  gimlet-pointed  screw  brought  its  in 
ventor  a  vast  sum,  and  the  man  who  first  put  copper  tips 
on  the  toes  of  children's  shoes  grew  rich  out  of  that  idea. 
The  inventor  of  the  roller  skate  received  many  hundred 
thousands  of  dollars  from  his  patent,  and  the  different  kinds 
of  building  blocks  have  made  their  inventors  rich,  while 
the  man  who  patented  the  return  ball  with  a  rubber  string 
attached  to  pull  it  back  received  a  large  income  from  it. 

Our  next  visit  is  to  the  Department  of  Commerce.  Its 
business  is  to  foster  and  develop  our  foreign  and  domestic 
commerce  as  well  as  our  mining,  manufacturing,  shipping, 
and  fishery  industries,  and  also  the  transportation  facilities 
of  the  United  States.  It  has  charge  of  the  Census  Bureau, 
whose  business  it  is  to  count  our  people  every  ten  years, 
and  to  find  out  all  about  them,  so  that  we  can  know  just 
how  many  citizens  we  have  and  what  they  are  doing.  The 
Secretary  tells  us  we  are  rapidly  increasing  in  population 
every  year  and  that  we  now  number  about  one  sixteenth 
of  the  whole  human  race.  He  shows  us  that  we  are  the 
richest  of  all  nations  and  are  steadily  growing  in  wealth. 
The  largest  part  of  the  population  are  working  people. 
To  promote  the  welfare  of  the  laborers  there  is  a  separate 
department,  the  Department  of  Labor. 

We  learn  more  about  our  great  country  in  the  Depart 
ment  of  Agriculture.  This  has  to  do  with  the  farms  and 
their  crops,  as  well  as  with  our  forests  and  other  resources. 
The  United  States  has  so  much  rich  soil  that  its  products 
are  worth  more  than  those  of  any  other  country.  The 
farms  yield  several  billions  of  dollars'  worth  of  grain  every 
year,  and  the  value  of  cotton  is  hundreds  of  millions.  Our 
hay  crop  is  so  great  that  all  the  gold  and  silver  mined  in 
the  world  in  a  year  would  not  be  enough  to  buy  it ;  and 


48  WASHINGTON 

the  same  is  true  of  either  our  wheat  or  cotton,  while  each 
year's  crop  of  corn  is  worth  several  times  that  amount. 
We  find  that  we  raise  so  much  on  our  farms  that  we  can 
not  use  it  all,  and  that  hundreds  of  ships  are  kept  busy 
carrying  the  surplus  to  Europe. 

The  Agricultural  Department  is  always  studying  the 
needs  of  our  farmers  and  planning  to  help  them  make 
their  lands  produce  more.  It  has  men  traveling  all  over 
the  world  to  find  new  seeds  and  new  plants.  It  suggests 
new  crops  and  methods  of  farming,  and  in  many  places 
shows  how  two  blades  of  grass  may  be  made  to  grow  where 
only  one  grew  before.  We  visit  the  Museum,  where  sam 
ples  of  cotton,  flax,  and  other  textiles  are  shown,  and  also 
of  silk  with  the  cocoons,  silk  worms  and  eggs. 

W7e  go  into  the  greenhouses  where  oranges,  lemons,  and 
other  luscious  fruits  are  raised  under  glass,  and  later  on 
visit  a  department  filled  with  cases  containing  pineapples, 
persimmons,  peaches,  apples,  and  pears.  These  look  so 
delicious  that  we  feel  like  eating  them,  until  we  learn  that 
they  are  .made  of  wax  and  painted  to  represent  fruits.  We 
are  shown  nuts  of  various  kinds,  and  specimens  of  other 
things  which  come  from  the  farms,  embracing  the  products 
of  our  various  climates,  from  the  tropics  to  the  coldest  parts 
of  the  temperate  zone. 

Before  leaving  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  we  are 
advised  to  visit  the  Bureau  which  has  charge  of  the  for 
estry  reserves  of  the  United  States.  The  officials  tell  us 
that  we  once  had  the  most  magnificent  forests  on  the 
globe,  one  third  of  our  whole  country  being  covered  with 
immense  trees,  where  one  could  ride  for  days  and  days 
through  nothing  but  woods.  But  the  people  did  not  realize 
what  the  trees  were  worth.  They  wanted  the  land  for  farms, 
and  destroyed  them  in  every  possible  way.  They  cut 


THE    DEPARTMENT   OF   AGRICULTURE  49 

many  for  lumber,  and  so  wastefully  that  much  of  the  best 
wood  was  lost.  They  chopped  down  the  trees  on  the  moun 
tains,  leaving  some  places  so  bare  that  no  roots  were  left  to 
hold  back  the  water,  and  the  rivers  and  streams  became  dry. 
To-day  there  is  comparatively  little  of  the  great  forest 
lands  left ;  and  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  does  what  it  can  to 
encourage  the  people  to  plant  new  trees  and  to  take  care 
of  their  woods.  It  has  also  to  do  with  the  government 
forests  and  with  the  prevention  of  forest  fires  everywhere. 
We  shall  learn  more  about  this  as  we  travel  through  those 
parts  of  our  country  where  the  forests  still  stand. 


6.  BALTIMORE  AND  THE  OYSTER  BEDS 

WE  leave  Washington  this  morning  on  our  way  to 
New  York.  The  journey  will  take  five  hours  on  the 
cars,  but  as  the  country  is  thickly  populated,  and  we  shall 
pass  several  large  cities,  we  shall  stop  on  the  way. 

We  take  automobiles  to  the  Union  Station,  which  is  not 
far  from  the  Capitol.  It  is  a  white  granite  building  cover 
ing  almost  six  acres,  and  surrounded  by  beautiful  grounds. 
We  buy  our  tickets  as  we  go  through,  and  are  soon  in  the 
train.  We  reach  Baltimore  in  less  than  an  hour. 

Baltimore  is  the  chief  port  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
south  of  New  York.  It  has  a  good  harbor  at  the  head  of 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  is  connected  by  many  railways  with 
the  South  and  West.  It  is  also  near  the  coal  fields  of  West 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  and  therefore  has  great  advan 
tages  for  manufacturing  and  shipping.  We  find  ocean 
steamers  at  the  wharf,  and  see  grain,  flour,  tobacco,  and 


50  BALTIMORE 

other  products  taken  from  the  cars  and  loaded  upon  ships 
to  be  carried  to  Europe,  South  America,  the  West  Indies, 
and  other  parts  of  the  world. 

While  visiting  the  harbor  we  hire  a  boat  and  have  a 
look  at  Fort  McHenry,  whose  bombardment  by  the  British 
in  1814  caused  Francis  Scott  Key  to  write  "  The  Star- 
spangled  Banner."  You  may  remember  the  story.  It 
was  during  the  war  of  1812,  when  the  British  fleet  had  at 
tacked  Fort  McHenry,  and  Mr.  Key,  having  gone  out  to 
one  of  the  ships  under  a  flag  of  truce,  was  detained  there 
during  the  fighting.  As  he  watched  the  firing  throughout 
the  night,  his  heart  was  sick  with  anxiety;  for  he  could  not 
tell  whether  the  fort  had  fallen  until  the  day  broke.  He 
then  saw  that  the  flag  was  still  standing,  and  the  inspira 
tion  of  the  song  came  to  him.  He  wrote  the  first  verses 
on  the  back  of  a  letter  before  leaving  the  ship.  As  we 
look  at  the  place,  the  words  come  to  us  and  we  sing:  — 

u  O  say,  can  you  see,  by  the  dawn's  early  light, 

What  so  proudly  we  hailed  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming. 
Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars  through  the  perilous  fight, 

O'er  the  ramparts  we  watched,  were  so  gallantly  streaming  ? 
And  the  rockets1  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there : 
O  say,  does  that  Star-spangled  Banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave?  M 

It  was  in  Baltimore  that  Randall  wrote  his  song,  "  Mary 
land,  My  Maryland,"  and  here  Edgar  Allan  Poe  began  his 
career  as  a  writer  of  poems  and  stories. 

When  Washington  was  laid  out,  Baltimore  had  already 
eight  thousand  people,  and  was  considered  one  of  the 
chief  towns  of  the  country.  It  now  contains  about  three 
quarters  of  a  million,  and  it  has  so  many  streets  that 
if  they  were  stretched  out  in  one  long  line  they  would 


CHESAPEAKE    BAY  — OYSTER   FARMS 


51 


reach  almost  from  New  York  to  Chicago.  We  visit  the 
cathedral,  the  first  one  built  in  the  United  States,  Druid  Hill 
Park,  and  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  Then  we  take 
a  look  at  the  monument  which  Baltimore  has  put  up  in 
honor  of  George  Washington.  It  seems  small  in  compari 
son  with  the  huge  structure  we  saw  at  the  national  capital. 


The  Cathedral  at  Baltimore. 


We  find  ourselves  quite  hungry  after  our  rapid  tour 
through  the  city,  and  resolve  to  take  a  lunch  at  the  station 
before  we  go  on  to  Philadelphia. 

What  shall  we  eat  ? 

We  order  oysters,  for  Baltimore  is  the  chief  oyster 
market  of  the  United  States.  More  than  one  third  of  all 
the  oysters  of  the  world  are  grown  in  the  waters  of  Chesa- 


52  BALTIMORE 

peake  Bay,  and  there  are  in  Baltimore  many  thousand  men 
and  wonlen  who  do  nothing  but  take  the  oysters  out  of 
their  shells  in  order  that  they  may  be  shipped  in  tubs  and 
cans  to  different  parts  of  the  country.  We  Americans  eat 
more  oysters  than  are  eaten  by  the  people  of  any  other 
nation.  The  number  we  consume  in  a  year  is  large 
enough  to  supply  one  dozen  to  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  on  the  globe,  and  still  leave  some  to  spare. 

The  oysters  shipped  from  Baltimore  are  found  in  the 
shallow  waters  along  the  coast  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  They 
grow  also  in  some  other  salt  waters  of  the  United  States, 
but  there  are  more  good  oysters  in  that  bay  than  anywhere 
else.  Most  of  the  oysters  grow  of  themselves ;  but  there 
are  also  oyster  farms.  These  are  places  in  the  bay  or  at 
the  mouths  of  its  rivers  where  the  seed  oysters  are  put,  and 
shells  thrown  into  the  water,  to  which  the  young  oysters 
can  fasten  themselves  while  they  grow  shells  of  their  own. 

Oysters  grow  in  this  way  for  four  or  five  years  before  they 
are  big  enough  to  be  eaten.  Their  eggs  are  so  small  that 
you  cannot  see  them  with  the  naked  eye.  It  is  said  that 
one  oyster  will  lay  more  than  one  million  eggs  in  a  season. 

When  an  oyster  is  hatched,  it  is  as  small  as  the  point  of 
a  fine  needle.  It  looks  like  a  white  dot.  It  at  once  fastens 
itself  to  a  piece  of  stone  or  shell  or  anything  it  can  find  which 
is  hard.  It  soon  gets  to  be  as  big  as  the  head  of  a  pin  and 
so  increases  in  size  that  when  it  is  a  year  old  it  is  as  large 
as  a  silver  twenty-five-cent  piece.  After  that  it  grows  about 
an  inch  a  year  for  from  four  to  six  years,  when  it  is  full 
grown.  One  can  tell  how  old  an  oyster  is  by  the  shell,  the 
layers  upon  which  show  the  number  of  years  it  has  lived. 
The  shells  grow  thicker  and  thicker  year  after  year.  Some 
have  been  found  which  were  nine  inches  thick,  and  scientists 
claim  there  are  oysters  which  have  lived  one  hundred  years. 


CHESAPEAKE   BAY  — OYSTER    FARMS 


53 


The  oysters  are  gathered  during  the  fall  and  winter  by 
men  who  sail  in  boats  over  the  beds  where  they  lie.  The 
men  have  long  rakes,  which  they  push  down  into  the  water 
and  thus  drag  up  the  oysters.  Sometimes  they  use  dredges, 
or  great  shovels  worked  by  machinery,  which  scoop  the 
shellfish  from  out  of  the  bottom  of  the  bay. 

But  here  come  our  oysters.  They  are  brought  in  on  the 
half  shell,  and  we  see  that  there  are  two  parts  to  an  oyster 


Oyster  Dredging. 

shell.  One  is  hollow  and  the  other  is  flat.  In  the  hollow 
portion  lies  the  liquor  which  is  the  life  blood  of  the  oyster. 
At  the  back  of  the  shell  we  see  the  hinges  by  which  the 
two  parts  are  kept  together. 

What  queer-looking  things  the  oysters  are  as  they  lie 
here  on  the  shells  !  They  have  mouths,  but  no  heads. 
The  mouth  is  in  the  narrowest  portion  of  the  body.  It  is 
merely  a  hole  in  the  skin,  for  the  oyster  has  neither  tongue 
nor  teeth.  The  mouth  has  four  thin  lips,  and  the  oyster 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  4 


54 


PHILADELPHIA 


gets  its  food  by  filtering  the  water  which  it  takes  into  its 
mouth  through  them.  It  has  no  nose  and  no  eyes ;  but 
scientists  say  that  it  will  close  up  its  shell  if  a  shadow 
passes  over  the  water  above  it.  Hence  it  must  have  some 
way  of  knowing  what  is  going  on  about  it.  The  oyster 
has  lungs  and  a  heart.  Its  stomach  is  a  little  bag  which 
lies  just  behind  the  mouth. 

As  we  think  of  these  things,  we  almost  hesitate  to  let  the 
oysters  slip  down  our  throats.  We  try  one,  however.  The 
delicious  taste  takes  away  our  scruples,  and  we  find  our 
selves  eating  a  second  dozen  before  we  are  satisfied. 


7.     IN     PHILADELPHIA  --  A     VISIT     TO     THE 

MINT 

A    CAR  ride  of  less  than  three  hours  brings  us  from 
Baltimore  to  Philadelphia.     At   Havre-de-Grace  we 
cross    the  wide  Susquehanna    River   where    it   flows  into 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  a  little  later  enter  the  state  of  Dela 
ware,  stopping  to  spend  a  short  time  at  the  manufacturing 


MANUFACTURES  55 

city  of  Wilmington,  near  which  General  Washington  fought 
the  British  in  the  Battle  of  Brandywine. 

Long  before  we  reach  Philadelphia  itself  we  see  great 
factories,  and  realize  that  we  are  in  one  of  our  chief  in 
dustrial  centers.     There  are  only  two  cities  in  our  country 
which  have  more  manufacturing  establishments  than  Phil 
adelphia,  and   they  are  New  York  and 
Chicago.       There   are    several    hundred 
thousand  men  and  women  here  who  make 
things  to  sell.     Thousands  are  busy  weav 
ing  cottons,  woolens,  and  silks  into  cloths 
and  carpets,  and  thousands  are  making 
shoes,  hosiery,  hats  and  caps,  and  other 
clothing.     There  are  thousands  engaged 
wniiam  Perm.  jn  shipbuilding  and  in  making  cars  and 

carriages.  Our  greatest  war  vessels  are  built  here  and 
many  of  our  railroad  locomotives.  There  are  others  who 
are  doing  work  in  iron  and  steel,  and  in  manufacturing 
leather.  Some  are  making  chemicals,  including  drugs  and 
medicines,  and  others  are  employed  in  printing  and  book 
binding. 

As  we  proceed  with  our  tour  over  the  United  States,  we 
shall  see  more  factories,  and  shall  learn  that  we  have 
now  become  the  chief  manufacturing  nation  of  the  world. 
When  our  country  was  first  settled,  most  of  the  people  were 
farmers.  They  raised  things  from  the  soil.  As  more  came, 
some  began  to  make  things  to  sell.  This  has  gone  on 
until  now  a  large  percentage  of  our  population  is  en 
gaged  in  manufacturing.  We  have  more  than  twelve  times 
as  many  factories  as  we  had  forty  years  ago,  and  hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars  are  earned  every  year  by  those  who 
work  in  them.  If  we  could  see  all  the  workingmen  of 
the  world,  we  should  perceive  that  our  people  are  better  fed, 


56  PHILADELPHIA 

better  clothed,  and  better  housed  than  those  of  any  other 
nation.  We  find  this  especially  so  in  Philadelphia.  We 
walk  for  miles  through  long  streets  of  small,  neat  houses 
made  of  red  brick,  with  steps  of  white  marble.  There  are 
thousands  of  such  houses  here  belonging  to  the  working 
people,  and  it  is  said  that  more  persons  own  their  own  homes 
in  Philadelphia  than  anywhere  else. 

Why  has  Philadelphia  become  a  great  manufacturing 
city  ? 

One  reason  is  because  it  is  so  situated  that  materials 
can  be  cheaply  brought  to  it  and  the  manufactured  goods 
shipped  from  it  to  other  parts  of  the  United  States.  The 
slopes  of  the  Appalachian  range  are  such  that  railroads 
have  been  built  from  Philadelphia  through  the  passes  of 
the  Allegheny  Mountains,  thus  giving  it  an  easy  road  to 
the  lands  farther  west.  It  is  also  a  seaport,  although  it  is 
almost  one  hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Large 
steamships  can  sail  up  Delaware  Bay  andon  to  Philadelphia, 
bringing  the  materials  the  people  want  to  use  in  their  shops, 
and  carrying  their  manufactures  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
The  Schuylkill  and  Delaware  rivers,  which  here  come  to 
gether,  furnish  Philadelphia  with  thirty  miles  of  water  front 
for  docks  and  wharves.  They  also  give  water  power  for 
manufacturing  purposes,  and  the  city  lies  so  near  the  coal 
lands  of  Pennsylvania  that  the  fuel  for  steam  and  electric 
power  costs  but  little.  Moreover,  not  far  away  are  some  of 
the  largest  beds  of  anthracite  coal  to  be  found  anywhere. 
This  coal  makes  a  great  heat  and  is  valuable  for  manufactur 
ing  ;  it  is  also  used  largely  as  the  fuel  which  heats  our 
homes.  Anthracite  is  so  hard  that  people  for  a  long  time 
did  not  think  it  would  burn,  one  noted  man  saying  that, 
if  the  world  were  burned  up,  this  would  be  the  very  last 
thing  to  catch  fire. 


FRANKLIN 


57 


Philadelphia  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  our  country, 
and  for  ten  years,  from  1790  to  1800,  it  was  the  capital  of 
the  United  States.  It  was  founded  by  the  Quakers  under 
William  Penn,  and  for  this  reason  it  is  often  called  the 
Quaker  City.  It  was  here  that  the  Continental  Congress 
met,  and  here  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
drawn  up  and  our  Dec 
laration  of  Independ 
ence  signed.  'Our  first 
President  had  his  office 
in  Philadelphia,  and  here 
Congress  assembled  until 
1797. 

We  visit  Independence 
Hall,  where  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence 
was  adopted ;  and  then 
go  to  Carpenters'  Hall, 
where  the  first  Colonial 
Congress  assembled. 
We  walk  around  the  city 
hall,  an  enormous  struc 
ture  of  granite  and  marble 
covering  more  than  four 
acres.  It  has  a  tall  tower  upon  which  stands  a  bronze 
figure  of  William  Penn,  made  by  Philadelphia  workmen. 
It  is  one  of  the  largest  statues  in  the  world.  It  does  not 
seem  big  as  we  look  at  it  from  the  ground,  but  it  is 
really  as  tall  as  a  three-story  house,  and  the  buttons  on 
the  coat  are  as  large  around  as  a  tea  plate. 

During  our  tour  of  the  city  we  tarry  a  moment  at  the 
grave  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  It  is  in  the  yard  of  Christ 
Church,  in  the  midst  of  the  hum  and  hurry  of  the  busy 


Independence  Hall. 


PHILADELPHIA 


city,   marked   only    by   a    plain   marble    slab.     It   was    in 
Philadelphia    that    Benjamin    Franklin    lived   the  greater 


A 


iH 

eirtUL 

Bw®f4& 


J^ 

City  Hall,  Philadelphia. 

part  of  his  life.  He  was  born  in  Boston,  and  learned  there 
the  trade  of  a  printer.  He  was  only  a  boy  when  he  came 
to  Philadelphia  to  find  work,  and  his 
first  meal  here  was  a  loaf  of  bread  which 
he  bought  and  ate  as  he  walked  through 
the  streets.  He  afterwards  became  a 
great  man  and  was  of  much  service  to 
the  United  States. 

When  Franklin  first  came  to  Phila 
delphia,  it  was  larger  than  New  York, 
and  it  remained  so  until  the  Erie  Canal 
was  built.  After  that  New  York  got  ahead,  but  Philadel- 


THE  MINT 


59 


phia  continued  to  be  the  second  city  of  the  United  States 
for  many  years,  and  it  is  now  surpassed  in  size  only  by 
New  York  and  Chicago.  It  has  more  than  fifteen  hun 
dred  thousand  people. 

We  visit  the  mint,  where  most  of  our  gold,  silver,  and 
copper  money  is  made.     There  are  several  other  mints  in 


Interior  of  Money  Vaults,  Philadelphia  Mint. 

the  United  States,  but  the  Philadelphia  mint  is  the  oldest. 
It  was  founded  during  the  presidency  of  George  Washing 
ton,  and  it  coins  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  gold  and 
silver  every  year.  It  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  Philadel 
phia,  not  far  from  the  city  hall.  There  are  guards  at  the 
door,  and  visitors  are  carefully  watched  as  they  are  taken 
from  room  to  room  and  shown  the  processes  of  coining 
money. 


60  PHILADELPHIA 

The  superintendent  of  the  mint  goes  with  us.  He 
leads  us  down  into  the  vaults  and  shows  us  where  the 
gold  and  silver  metal  and  coin  are  stored  away.  In  one 
vault  we  see  millions  of  silver  dollars  tied  up  in  bags  and 
stacked  up  against  the  wall  like  so  much  corn.  In  a 
smaller  room  we  are  shown  piles  of  gold  bricks.  They 
are  laid  up  in  regular  order  in  different  parts  of  the  vault. 
They  are  of  about  the  size  of  a  cake  of  kitchen  soap,  and 
do  not  look  heavy. 

The  superintendent  asks  us  to  lift  one  of  them,  and  we 
find  our  backs  almost  broken  by  the  effort.  It  weighs 
forty  pounds,  or  as  much  as  many  a  six-year-old  boy.  In 
other  vaults  we  are  shown  quantities  of  silver  bullion,  the 
bricks  of  which  are  larger  and  heavier,  and  learn  that 
from  these  gold  and  silver  bricks  our  money  is  made. 

We  next  enter  a  room  where  men  are  melting  gold,  and 
here  see  how  copper  and  other  metals  are  put  with  it  into 
the  melting  pot,  in  order  that  the  money  may  be  harder 
and  wear  better.  The  gold  we  saw  in  the  bricks  was  so 
soft  that  we  could  scratch  it  with  our  finger  nails.  It  was 
pure  gold,  and  the  superintendent  tells  us  that  coins  made 
of  pure  gold  would  soon  wear  away,  and  that  a  pure  gold 
wedding  ring  would  hardly  outlast  the  honeymoon. 

The  gold  bricks,  having  been  melted,  are  cast  into 
ingots  or  long  gold  wedges,  about  as  wide  as  a  twenty- 
dollar  gold  piece,  and  a  little  more  than  a  foot  long  and 
two  inches  thick.  It  is  from  them  that  the  gold  coins 
are  made. 

As  we  go  on  into  the  sil\7er-melting  room  we  observe  that 
the  metal  for  the  silver  dollars  is  cast  into  strips  of  the 
same  kind.  We  see  a  man  wheeling  a  box  of  these  silver 
ingots  out  of  the  room,  and  follow  him  along  the  hall  to 
learn  how  the  ingots  are  made  into  dollars.  Many  have 


THE   MINT 


6l 


the  idea  that  our  coins  are  cast ;  the  gold  and  silver  being 
melted  and  turned  into  molds  just  as  in  the  making  of 
bullets,  save  that,  when  the  molds  are  opened,  out  drop 
gold  eagles  and  silver  dollars  instead  of  balls  of  lead. 

We  soon  find,  however,  that  our  coins  are  stamped  out 
of  the  cold  metal,  and  that  machines  with  an  enormous 
pressure  put  upon  their 
faces  the  beautifulimages 
of  the  goddess  of  liberty 
and  the  American  eagle. 
The  silver  ingots  are 
first  rolled  between  cyl-  ] 
inders  of  steel  so  gradu 
ated  that  the  ingots  grow 
thinner  and  thinner  as 
they  are  pulled  through 
them,  until  at  last  they 
are  just  a  little  wider  and 
about  as  thick  as  a  silver 
dollar.  They  have  been 
so  drawn  out  by  the  pro 
cess  that  they  are  like 
long  bands  of  hoop  iron 
rather  than  like  chisels 
or  wedges.  These  bands  A  coining  Machine. 

or  strips  are  now  run  under  a  vertical  steel -punch  which 
cuts  out  of  them  round  pieces  of  silver  of  just  the  size 
of  a  dollar.  These  are  the  blanks  of  which  the  dollars 
are  to  be  made. 

It  is  important  that  every  coin  should  have  the  right 
amount  of  silver  in  it,  so  each  blank  is  weighed  before  it  is 
stamped.  After  weighing,  it  is  taken  down  into  the  base 
ment  of  the  mint;  and,  with  thousands  of  other  blanks,  is 


62 


PHILADELPHIA 


shoveled  into  a  vat  of  acid,  which  eats  off  the  dirt.  It  is 
then  dried  and  taken  upstairs  to  be  coined. 

The  coining  is  done  by  the  coining  machine.  The  silver 
blanks  are  fed  into  it  through  a  long  tube  which  drops 
them  between  two  dies.  The  upper  die  bears  the  picture 
of  the  goddess  of  liberty,  and  the  lower  that  of  the  Ameri 
can  eagle  as  well  as  the  lettering  which  you  find  on  the 
silver  dollar.  As  the  coin  lies  there,  the  two  dies  come  to 
gether  upon  it,  exerting  an  enormous  pressure,  and  stamping 
the  beautiful  impressions  which  you  see  on  our  silver  money. 

Gold  coins  are  made  in  the  same  way,  and  likewise  the 
cents  which  are  manufactured  by  thousands.  The  total 
value  of  the  gold  pieces  coined  in  this  mint  from  1793  to 
1910,  is  more  than  one  thousand  million  dollars,  and  that  of 
the  silver  pieces  is  hundreds  of  millions.  Shortly  after  we 
took  possession  of  the  Philippines,  eighty-six  million  coins 
for  those  islands  were  made  here. 

Leaving  the  mint,  we  go  to  Franklin  Field,  the  athletic 
grounds  of  the  Pennsylvania  University,  to  watch  the  boys 
play  football,  and  thence  on  to  the  Zoological  Garden,  which 
is  free  to  all  school  children.  We  visit  Girard  College, 
which  was  founded  by  a  rich  man  for  the  education  of 
poor  orphan  boys ;  and  then,  after  a  meal  at  the  railroad 
station  at  Broad  Street,  we  take  the  train  for  New  York. 


A    GREAT    COMMERCIAL    CITY 


8.     NEW   YORK  AND  SOME   OF  ITS  WONDERS 

IX  coming  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  the  train  takes 
us  through  Trenton,  the  capital  of  New  Jersey,  famous 
for  its  pottery  manufactures.  We  go  past  Princeton,  near 
where  General  Washington  defeated  the  British  in  1777 
and  where  he  wrote 
his  farewell  address 
to  the  army,  then 
through  Newark  on 
the  Passaic,  noted 
for  its  manufactures 
of  jewelry,  leather, 
and  iron,  and  on  to 
the  banks  of  the 
Hudson  River.  Here 
our  train  shoots  into 
a  tunnel  far  clown 
under  the  bed  of  the 
stream,  and  we  come 
out  in  the  busiest 
part  of  New  York. 
There  are  other  tun 
nels  in  New  York, 
and  we  might  go  underground  to  almost  any  part  of  the 
city,  or  even  cross  below  the  East  River  and  come  out  in 
Brooklyn.  These  tunnels  are  really  semicircular  steel 
tubes  with  flat  bottoms  so  set  in  beds  of  cement  that  the 
water  cannot  seep  through.  They  are  lighted  and  ven 
tilated  by  electricity,  and  the  cars  are  moved  by  the  same 
motive  power. 

We  are  now  in  the  biggest  city  of  our  hemisphere.    New 


Our  train  shoots  through  a  tunnel. 


64  NEW  YORK 

York  has  more  than  five  million  people,  and  with  the  ex 
ception  of  London,  it  is  the  largest  city  on  the  globe. 
We  find  it  difficult  to  realize  how  big  it  is.  It  grows  upon 
us  at  every  step  as  we  travel  through  it.  We  ask  for  a 
hotel,  and  hardly  know  which  to  choose  when  we  learn 
that  New  York  has  so  many  that  we  could  lodge  in  a 
different  place  every  night  for  three  years  without  going 
outside  the  city.  More  than  a  thousand  passenger  trains 
arrive  or  leave  every  day. 

The  traffic  of  New  York  is  so  great  that  it  requires  roads 
both  above  and  below  ground,  and,  as  we  shall  see  farther 

on,  elevated  railroads  upon  which 
the  cars  fly  through  the  air  over 
tracks  supported  on  posts.  The 
business  sections  are  so  crowded 
with  wagons,  drays,  carts,  and  auto 
mobiles  of  various  kinds  that  we 
have  to  ask  the  policeman  to  help 
us  from  one  side  of  the  street  to 
the  other.  We  see  the  police  every 
where.  They  are  dressed  in  blue 
uniforms,  with  silver  badges  on  the 

breasts  of  their  coats.  With  a  motion  of  their  hands  to 
the  drivers  they  hold  back  the  traffic.  We  learn  that  it 
takes  ten  thousand  such  men  to  keep  order  here. 

At  first  we  determine  to  seethe  whole  city,  but  find  that 
it  has  so  many  streets  that  if  we  should  walk  eight  miles 
every  day  we  could  not  go  through  them  all  in  one  year, 
and  we  give  up  the  plan  in  despair. 

But  before  we  go  on,  let  us  try  for  a  moment  to  think 
just  where  New  York  is  ;  for  it  is  its  situation  that  has 
made  it  so  great.  The  city  lies,  for  the  main  part,  on  the 
island  of  Manhattan,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River, 


A   GREAT   COMMERCIAL   CITY  65 

which  here  flows  into  the  Atlantic.  It  also  includes  the 
Bronx  on  the  mainland  to  the  north,  Staten  Island,  and 
the  boroughs  of  Queens  and  Brooklyn  on  Long  Island,  all 
of  which  have  a  water  front  on  the  rivers  or  on  New  York 
Bay,  forming  one  of  the  largest  and  best  harbors  of  the 
world. 

From  this  harbor  run  the  easiest  and  cheapest  routes 
from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  interior  of  our  country. 
They  make  their  way  inland  through  the  Mohawk  and 
Hudson  valleys,  where  the  land  is  low  and  the  slope 
over  the  Appalachian  Highlands  so  slight  that  freight  has 
to  be  lifted  much  less  than  upon  the  routes  over  the  moun 
tains  farther  south.  Therefore  the  railroads  starting  at 
New  York  and  going  through  these  valleys  can  carry  goods 
from  the  East  and  from  Europe  more  cheaply  to  the  interior 
of  our  country  than  those  from  other  seaports. 

Moreover,  New  York  is  connected  with  the  Great  Lakes 
by  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Erie  Canal,  so  that  the  vast 
farming  and  manufacturing  regions  lying  about  and  beyond 
those  lakes  can  send  their  products  by  water  to  New  York 
for  shipment  to  Europe,  and  by  the  same  means  can  have 
cheap  goods  in  return.  There  are  also  iron  and  coal  fields 
within  easy  access  of  New  York,  and  the  raw  materials  for 
many  manufactures  can  be  had  at  low  cost. 

The  island  of  Manhattan  is  not  quite  fourteen  miles  long; 
it  is  so  narrow  that  you  could  walk  from  one  side  of  it  to 
the  other  at  almost  any  point  in  less  than  an  hour.  Its 
form  makes  one  think  of  a  poorly  laid  out  baseball  ground. 
It  is  in  the  shape  of  an  irregular  diamond,  squeezed  in  be 
tween  two  rivers,  its  lowermost  point  extending  out  into 
New  York  Bay. 

We  begin  our  explorations  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
island.  The  ground  here  is  so  valuable  that  it  is  safe  to 


66  NEW   YORK 

'say  that  all  the  gold  mines  on  the  globe  could  not  in  one 
year  produce  enough  money  to  buy  it.  When  our  fore 
fathers  came  it  belonged  to  the  Indians. 

Now  what  do  you  think  the  Indians  got  for  it  ? 

They  sold  it  for  stuff  worth  about  twenty-four  dollars. 
They  did  not  think  it  of  any  value,  for  it  was  hard  to  get 
at  it  with  their  little  canoes.  So  when  some  men  from 
Holland  came  to  America  and  built  a  fort  here,  not  quite 
three  hundred  years  ago,  they  found  the  Indians  not 
unwilling  to  sell.  The  savages  had  not  yet  learned  what 
money  meant,  and  they  took  their  pay  in  beads,  buttons, 
and  other  small  trinkets. 

These  Dutchmen,  as  the  people  of  Holland  are  called, 
built  a  little  town  upon  the  island  and  named  it  New  Am 
sterdam.  It  was  so  known  until  the  place  was  taken  by 
the  English,  when  it  was  renamed  New  York.  It  rapidly 
grew,  and  was  already  the  second  city  of  the  United  States 
at  the  time  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed. 
It  increased  still  faster  after  the  Erie  Canal  was  opened, 
and  soon  became  our  chief  American  city.  It  is  now  by 
far  the  largest  city  on  our  hemisphere,  and  in  the  course  of 
time  will  surpass  London  and  be  the  largest  of  the  whole 
world. 

We  spend  some  time  on  Broadway,  the  chief  business 
street  of  New  York  and  the  main  artery  into  which  the 
other  streets  flow.  How  lively  it  is  and  how  noisy  !  Every 
one  is  on  the  rush,  and  as  we  join  the  hurrying  crowd  we  are 
jostled  and  pushed  this  way  and  that.  The  sidewalks  are 
black  with  men,  women,  and  children,  moving  along,  pay 
ing  little  attention  to  any  one  but  themselves.  The  road 
ways  are  blocked  with  cars  and  wagons,  the  drivers  of 
which  are  scolding  at  one  another.  There  are  automobiles 
and  motor  trucks,  puffing  and  smoking. 


(6?) 


"  We  walk  up  Broadway. 


68 


NEW    YORK 


How  high  the  buildings  arc  !  They  are  so  tall  that  we 
could  not  shoot  an  arrow  up  to  their  roofs.  They  are 
twenty,  thirty,  and  even  forty  and  more  stories  high,  so 
that  we  seem  to  be  walking  through  great  canyons  which 
shut  out  all  but  one  strip  of  sky  overhead. 

These  big  office  buildings  are  beehives  of  humanity. 
Many  of  them  have  more  people  than  a  large  country 
village.  They  are  furnished  like  palaces.  We  walk  through 
them  over  floors  of  marble,  and  fly  on  elevators  from  story 
to  story.  Some  have  post  offices  in  them.  They  have 
rooms  for  bootblacks  and  barbers,  and  many  have  restau 
rants  in  the  top  story  where  we  sit  at. lunch  higher  up  than 
the  spires  of  the  tallest  church  steeples. 

Everything  is  business  in  this  part  of  New  York.     Upon 
J  all  sides  of  us  are  great 

wholesale  establishments. 
There  are  retail  stores 
everywhere.  As  we  go 
through  the  side  streets 
we  observe  that  thousands 
are  working  in  cellars, 
making  all  kinds  of  goods 
under  the  ground. 

We  walk  up  Broadway 
past  the  City  Hall  Park, 
about  which  some  of  the 
big  newspaper  buildings 
stand>  anc^  then  turn  and 

back    a    few    blocks 
down  the  street  until  we 

come  to  Trinity  Church, 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  interesting  buildings  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  made  of  brownstone,  and  there  is  a 


Trinity  Church- 


TRINITY   CHURCHYARD  69 

large  churchyard  about  it,  in  which  are  the  tombstones 
of  some  famous  Americans  of  the  past.  The  churchyard 
is  a  beautiful  place  filled  with  flowers  and  trees,  and  it 
seems  strangely  peaceful  in  contrast  with  the  pushing 
throng  on  Broadway. 

We  enter,  and  stand  for  a  moment  by  the  tomb  of  Robert 
Fulton.  He  was  the  man  who  made  the  Clermont,  the 
first  steamboat  that  sailed  on  the  Hudson  River.  The 
Clermont  made  its  trial  trip  from  New  York  to  Albany  in 
1807.  Its  voyage  proved  that  steam  could  move  vessels 
through  the  water,  so  that  Robert  Fulton  may  be  called  the 
father  of  the  thousands  of  steamships  which  come  to  New 
York  every  year. 

Near  him  in  the  yard  of  old  Trinity  lies  Capt.  James 
Lawrence,  the  hero  of  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  whose 
famous  "  Don't  give  up  the  Ship  "  immortalized  his  memory ; 
and  at  the  lower  end  near  the  fence  we  see  the  white 
marble  monument  under  which  are  the  remains  of  Alex 
ander  Hamilton,  one  of  the  founders  of  our  government, 
who  was  shot  by  Aaron  Burr  in  a  duel. 

Leaving  the  churchyard  and  crossing  Broadway,  we  take 
a  walk  through  some  of  the  most  wonderful  streets  of  the 
world.  We  are  in  the  Wall  Street  section,  surrounded  by 
the  offices  of  the  men  who  own  or  control  much  of  the 
wealth  of  the  United  States. 

Wall  Street  is  often  called  the  money  capital  of  our 
country.  Near  it,  on  Broad  Street,  is  the  Stock  Exchange, 
where  railroad  and  other  stocks  and  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  billions  of  dollars  are  bought  and  sold  every  year.  By 
stocks  are  meant  shares  in  different  business  enterprises 
such  as  railroads,  steamships,  telegraphs,  and  telephone. 
The  prices  of  such  shares  for  many  reasons  sometimes 
change  quickly,  and  men  make  and  lose  fortunes  in  buying 

CARP.    N.    A.  —  5 


7o 


XE\Y    YORK 


and  selling  them.     It  is  in  the  Stock  Exchange  that  such 
business  is  done. 

We  are  admitted  to  the  gallery  of  the  building,  and  look 
down  upon  a  most  curious  sight.  In  the  great  room  below 

us  there  are  hun 
dreds  of  well-dressed 
men,  some  with  hats 
on  and  some  with 
out,  running  to  and 
fro,  pulling  and  yel 
ling  at  one  another. 
They  are  the  bankers 
and  brokers  who  are 
the  members  of  the 
exchange.  It  costs 
each  of  them  up 
wards  of  seventy 
thousand  dollars  for 
the  privilege  of  buy 
ing  and  selling. 
Each  has  a  little 
notebook  in  one 
hand  and  a  pencil 
in  the  other,  and 
with  these  he  jots  down  his  purchases  and  sales.  Tele 
graph  boys  rush  in  and  out  through  the  crowd,  and  the 
sight  makes  us  think  of  a  lot  of  madmen  rather  than  sen 
sible  people. 

Near  by  we  find  the  Produce  Exchange,  where  grain  of 
all  kinds  is  bought  and  sold.  New  York  is  one  of  the 
chief  grain  markets  of  the  world,  and  in  this  exchange 
wheat,  corn,  and  oats  are  sold  not  by  the  single  bushel,  but 
by  the  thousands  of  bushels.  The  smallest  amount  one 


Wall  Street. 


OUR    FOREIGN   COMMERCE  71 

can  buy  or  sell  is  five  thousand  bushels,  and  millions  of 
bushels  are  often  bought  in  one  day.  We  next  visit  the 
Cotton  Exchange,  where  men  trade  in  cotton  in  large 
quantities  ;  and  our  heads  fairly  swim  as  we  try  to  under 
stand  the  vast  sums  which  it  takes  to  manage  the  business 
of  this  one  city  of  our  country. 

We  are  anxious  to  get  out  of  the  bustle,  and  we  walk 
down  a  side  street  to  rest  our  eyes  and  ears  before  taking 
a  Broadway  car  to  the  hotel  farther  uptown  where  we 
shall  stay  over  night. 


9.     OUR   FOREIGN    COMMERCE 

THE  largest  hotels  of  New  York  are  in  the  middle  of 
the  island  of  Manhattan,  several  miles  above  the 
place  where  Wall  Street  runs  into  Broadway.  That  in 
which  we  stay  is  not  far  from  Herald  Square,  and  when 
we  start  out  in  the  morning  we  are  in  the  heart  of  one  of 
the  great  shopping  districts.  Broadway  is  here  almost  as 
busy  as  down  at  Trinity  Church,  and  the  side  streets  lead 
ing  to  it  are  so  lined  with  store  windows  that  walking 
along  them  is  like  going  through  a  huge  museum  walled 
with  glass  cases. 

Goods  of  all  kinds  are  spread  out  before  us,  and  we 
see  that  every  nation  of  the  world  has  sent  its  products  to 
New  York  for  sale.  Those  bright-colored  silks  over  there 
came  from  China.  They  were  woven  on  rude  looms  by 
yellow-skinned,  slant-eyed  men  and  women  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Yangtze  Kiang.  They  were  brought  to  America 
on  a  steamship  through  the  Indian  Ocean,  by  way  of  the 
Red  Sea  and  the  Suez  Canal.  They  crossed  the  Mediter- 


NEW   YORK 


ranean,  passed  through  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  thence 
came  to  New  York.  Those  rich  velvets  and  laces  were 
brought  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  Europe;  and  those 

diamonds  which  you 
see  in  that  jewelry 
store  were  dug  by 
black-skinned,  half- 
naked  men  in  the  mines 
of  South  Africa. 

Here  is  a  tea  store 
which  is  supplied  by 
the  bushes  of  the 
Himalaya  Mountains 
in  northern  India  and 
by  those  of  the  tea 
gardens  of  Japan  and 
China.  Next  to  it  is 
a  shop  where  one  can 
buy  coffee  from  Brazil 
and  sugar  from  Cuba. 
That  toy  store  has 
many  French  dolls, 

and  curious  mechanical  playthings  made  in  the  mountains 
of  Germany ;  and  the  tiger-skin  rug  in  the  window  next 
door  once  covered  the  body  of  a  beast  that  prowled  through 
the  jungles  of  northern  Hindustan.  There  are  other  things 
all  about  us  from  every  part  of  the  world,  and  we  resolve 
to  go  to  the  wharves  and  see  the  great  ships  which  bring 
these  things  into  our  country. 

Let  us  first  take  a  ride  to  the  lower  part  of  the  island. 
New  York  is  so  crowded  that  the  surface  electric  cars 
require  a  long  time  to  make  their  way  from  one  end  of 
it  to  the  other.  To  perform  the  journey  more  quickly 


A  New  York  Hotel. 


RAILROADS  73 

subways  have  been  dug  under  the  streets,  in  which  fast 
trains  run,  and  elevated  railroads  have  been  built  high 
above  the  roadways.  Upon  the  latter  the  cars  go  almost 
as  rapidly  as  an  ordinary  railway  express.  These  elevated 
tracks  are  supported  by  steel  columns  which  extend  to  the 
height  of  the  second  or  third  story  windows. 

We  have  to  walk  upstairs  to  get  to  the  train,  and  we  find 
ticket  offices  and  news  stands  on  the  elevated  platforms. 


A  Subway  Station. 

Our  tickets  cost  us  five  cents  apiece.  We  drop  them  into 
the  box  at  the  door  of  the  station,  and  rush  for  the  cars. 
As  we  step  aboard,  the  guard  closes  the  iron  gates  at  the 
side  of  the  car  platform,  and  the  train  begins  to  move. 

The  cars  have  windows  like  those  of  a  street  car,  and  we 
can  see  into  the  upper  stories  of  the  houses  as  we  ride 
through  the  air.  Here  women  are  washing  clothes,  there 
they  are  cooking  ;  here  we  go  by  a  shop  where  tailors  are 
working,  and  there  pass  buildings  given  up  to  manu 
facturing. 


74 


NEW  YORK 


New  York  has  more  factories  than  any  other  American 
city.  It  has  more  than  a  half  million  people  making  things 
to  sell,  the  different  kinds  of  industries  numbering  over 
one  thousand.  The  capital  used  is  about  one  billion  and  a 
half  dollars  and  the  product  so  great  that  if  every  family  in 
the  United  States  should  give  one  hundred  dollars  it  would 
hardly  pay  for  all  the  goods  New  York  makes  in  one  year. 


Elevated  Railroad  on  the  Bowery,  New  York. 

Here  we  are  at  the  wharves.  What  a  crush  and  jam 
there  is  all  about  us  I  The  streets  are  crowded  with  wagons, 
carts,  trucks,  and  motor  vehicles  loaded  with  goods  on  their 
way  to  the  boats.  We  walk  for  miles  past  great  docks 
upon  which  are  long,  roomy  sheds  filled  with  bales,  boxes, 
and  barrels  where  scores  of  men  are  at  work  loading  and 
unloading  vessels. 


DOCKS   AND   WHARVES 


75 


New  York  has  twenty-five  miles  of  water  front  on  Man 
hattan  Island  alone,  many  other  wharves  and  landing 
places  on  the  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey  shores.  More 
than  half  of  all  that  we  buy  of  foreign  nations  and  about 
three  fifths  of  all  that  we  sell  to  them  pass  through 
here. 

Our  imports,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  things  that 
cannot  well  be  raised  in  America,  consist  almost  altogether 


Wharves,  East  Shore  of  Manhattan. 

of  manufactured  articles.  We  are  the  chief  manufac 
turing  nation  of  the  world,  but  our  factories  are  not  yet 
numerous  enough  to  supply  all  our  needs,  and  so  we  im 
port  much  from  other  countries.  The  amount  of  money 
we  spend  in  this  way  is  so  great  that  if  it  were  divided 
among  all  of  our  people,  every  man,  woman,  and  child  of 


76  NEW   YORK 

us  would  get  ten  dollars'  worth  each  year,  and  there 
would  be  many  millions  to  spare. 

Moreover,  we  often  sell  to  other  countries  goods  worth 
many  hundred  million  dollars  more  than  the  merchandise 
we  buy  of  them,  so  that  it  takes  a  vast  fleet  of  vessels  to 
carry  our  goods  abroad  and  to  bring  foreign  goods  back  to 
us.  Over  three  thousand  steamships  annually  come  from 
foreign  countries  to  the  wharves  of  New  York,  and  there 
are  in  addition  thousands  of  sailing  vessels.  A  procession 
of  steamers  is  always  moving  back  and  forth  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  carrying  our  wares  to  the  people  of  Europe 
and  bringing  their  wares  to  us. 

A  large  part  of  all  that  we  sell  abroad  is  produced  on 
our  farms.  We  raise  so  much  more  than  we  can  use  that 
the  United  States  has  become  a  great  country  store  for  the 
European  nations.  Every  year  hundreds  of  ships  laden 
with  grain  sail  out  of  New  York.  The  steamers  have  their 
holds  filled  with  grain  in  bulk,  and  between  the  decks  the 
wheat  is  piled  up  in  bags.  Such  vessels  are  loaded  quickly, 
half  a  million  bushels  of  grain  being  often  packed  away  in 
a  ship  in  one  hour.  Vast  quantities  of  other  provisions  are 
sent  abroad  every  week,  and  hundreds  of  million  dollars 
worth  of  our  manufactures  are  carried  across  the  Atlantic 
for  sale.  Ships  are  also  loading  for  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America.  Some  are  starting  out  for  the  Panama 
Canal  and  others  are  taking  on  cargoes  for  East  Africa 
and  Asia  by  way  of  Gibraltar  and  the  Suez  Canal. 

The  people  of  many  far-away  countries  send  to  our 
great  store  for  a  part  of  the  oil  they  need  for  their  lamps. 
Our  petroleum  is  carried  over  all  the  oceans.  It  is  shipped 
from  New  York,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  other  places, 
in  tank  steamers,  a  single  one  of  which  will  hold  as  much 
as  thirty  thousand  barrels  of  oil.  The  steamer  is  divided 


OCEAN   GREYHOUNDS  77 

into  a  half-dozen  or  more  huge  tanks.  The  oil  is  pumped 
into  the  tanks,  and  it  remains  there  in  bulk  until  it  is  again 
pumped  out  upon  the  wharves  of  the  great  ports  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa. 

It  is  in  vessels  of  the  same  kind  that  molasses  is  brought 
to  the  United  States  from  Cuba.  Think  of  the  biggest 
house  you  have  ever  seen  as  one  solid  box,  and  let  it  be 
filled  with  molasses,  and  you  may  get  some  idea  of  the 
sweetness  that,  protected  only  by  a  thin  sheet  of  steel,  is 
thus  carried  through  the  salt  waters  of  the  ocean. 

While  at  the  wharves  we  visit  ships  loaded  with  cotton. 
This  comes  from  the  plantations  of  our  southern  states 
and  is  carried  in  bales  to  Europe  and  Asia  to  be  made  into 
cloth.  We  get  more  than  twice  as  much  every  year  from 
the  raw  cotton  we  sell  to  other  countries  as  from  our  sales 
of  wheat  and  flour.  Cotton  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  all  the  articles  which  the  rest  of  the  world  buys 
from  our  store.  We  sell  more  than  half  of  all  we  pro 
duce,  and  we  sometimes  get  as  much  as  four  hundred 
million  dollars  for  cotton  from  Europe  in  one  year.  We 
sell  also  great  quantities  of  manufactures  of  various  kinds, 
and  such  exports  increase  every  year. 

Our  chief  trade  is  with  Europe,  but  we  are  annually 
sending  more  and  more  to  Asia,  South  America,  Aus 
tralia,  and  Africa,  and  to  our  cousins  of  the  Hawaiian  and 
Philippine  Islands.  The  English  are  our  best  customers. 
They  buy  a  vast  deal  of  our  raw  cotton,  breadstuff's,  and 
manufactured  articles,  for  which  they  pay  several  times  as 
much  as  we  pay  for  the  various  kinds  of  goods  they  sell  to  us. 

The  fastest  steamers  of  the  world  are  those  which  go 
from  New  York  to  England.  Some  vessels  now  cross  the 
Atlantic  in  less  than  five  days,  traveling  so  swiftly  that 
they  have  been  called  ocean  greyhounds.  We  visit  one  of 


78  NEW  YORK 

these  steamers  which  has  just  come  from  Liverpool,  and  is 
now  docked  alongside  of  a  great  pier  in  the  lower  part  of 
Manhattan  Island.  It  is  a  great  floating  house  of  a  half- 
dozen  stories,  so  long  that  it  would  reach  from  end  to  end  of 
the  average  city  block,  filling  the  street  and  extending  high 
over  most  of  the  houses.  It  has  large  dining  rooms,  sitting 


I  IIP 

^twru.T.T»^"        <-.^  ,>'»*»»'••  W 


•-.ii.V..^,  ,  \ 

a:-w*j.wi.« .  >*>  ••  -V 


An  Ocean  Greyhound  —  Olympic. 

rooms,  bedrooms,  and  bathrooms,  and  we  see  tnat  people 
can  now  live  quite  as  well  upon  the  water  as  upon  the  land. 
We  look  at  the  enormous  engines,  as  strong  as  forty  thou 
sand  horses,  which  drive  the  huge  ship  through  the  water, 
and  are  surprised  when  we  are  told  that  its  furnaces  use 
up  every  day  as  much  coal  as  would  furnish  heat  for  fifty 
large  dwelling  houses  for  a  whole  year. 

Away  down  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ship  we  find  some 
large  rooms  not  so  well  furnished.  This  is  the  steerage. 
It  is  full  of  poor  people  who  have  come  across  the  Atlan 
tic  from  Europe,  Such  people  are  not  landed  at  this 


IMMIGRATION   BUREAU  79 

wharf.  They  will  be  carried  to  an  island  in  the  harbor 
where  the  government  officers  of  the  Immigration  Bureau 
will  examine  them  to  know  whether  they  are  likely  to 
make  good  citizens  of  the  United  States.  We  are  glad  to 
have  people  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  settle  in  our 
country  and  aid  in  developing  it ;  but  we  do  not  wish  any 
who  are  diseased  or  who  are  unable  to  work  and  hence 
likely  to  go  into  the  poorhouses  to  live.  Therefore  our 
government  has  provided  that  all  immigrants  coming  to  this 
country  must  be  examined  before  they  can  land.  If  they 
have  no  money  at  all,  or  are  idiots,  insane,  or  diseased,  or 
have  been  convicted  of  stealing  or  certain  other  crimes, 
they  are  sent  back  to  the  countries  whence  they  came. 
Otherwise  they  are  permitted  to  stay, 

For  years  the  poor  people  from  all  parts  of  Europe  have 
been  coming  to  America,  because  they  can  make  more 
money  and  live  better  here  than  at  home.  Since  1820  it 
is  estimated  that  almost  thirty  million  immigrants  have 
arrived  on  our  shores,  and  in  1910  almost  one  half  of  our 
Inhabitants  were  either  born  in  other  countries  or  were  the 
children  of  people  born  there. 

We  visit  the  place  where  these  immigrants  land.  Here 
we  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  odd-looking 
men,  women,  and  children.  Very  few  of  the  women  wear 
bonnets,  and  the  men  have  caps  or  queerly  shaped  hats. 
There  are  many  English  and  Irish,  and  many  others  from 
Europe.  There  are  dark-faced  Italians,  and  long-bearded 
Jews  from  Russia  and  Poland.  There  are  people  from 
Norway  and  Sweden,  and  boys  and  girls  from  Holland, 
who  wear  wooden  shoes.  Every  person  has  his  baggage 
with  him,  and  some  sit  on  piles  of  bedding  which  they 
have  brought  from  their  homes.  They  seem  strangely 
out  of  place ;  but  as  we  look  at  them  we  realize  that  they 


Two  little  immigrants." 


BROOKLYN   BRIDGE 


8l 


are  strong  and  able  to  work,  and  that  most  of  them  will 
be  good  American  citizens. 

We  take  a  boat  and  sail  over  to  Bedloes  Island  to  see 
the  magnificent  statue  of  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World. 
This  statue  is  intended  to  show 
every  one  who  comes  into  New 
York  that  this  is  a  country  where 
the  people  rule  themselves  and 
where  all  can  learn  to  be  free. 
The  statue  is  as  high  as  a  tall 
church  steeple.  We  get  some 
idea  of  its  size  when  we  learn 
that  forty  men  have  stood  inside 
its  head  at  one  time,  and  that 
its  forefinger  is  so  long  that  it 
would  reach  from  the  floor  to 
the  ceiling  of  an  average  room, 


Liberty  Enlightening  the  World. 

and'  so  big  around  that  the  hoop  of  a  flour  barrel  would 
just  about  fit  it  if  used  as  a  ring. 

As  we  leave  the  statue  and  go  back  to  New  York  we 
have  a  fine  view  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  the  oldest  of  the 
bridges  which  unite  that  part  of  New  York  known  as 
Brooklyn  with  Manhattan  Island.  It  is  an  immense 
structure  of  stone  and  steel,  more  than  a  mile  in  length, 
crossing  the  waterway  called  East  River.  The  bridge 
cost  more  than  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  one  of  the 
most  interesting  things  about  it  is  the  story  of  how  it  was 
built.  It  was  designed  by  John  A.  Roebling,  who  died 
before  it  was  begun.  His  son  took  up  the  work,  and  after 
thirteen  years  it  was  completed.  The  young  man  labored 
so  hard  in  superintending  its  building  that  he  broke  down 
in  health,  and  the  doctors  refused  to  permit  him  to  go 
out  of  the  house.  This  was  after  he  had  worked  only 


32 


NEW   YORK 


three  years.     Still  he  superintended  the  construction  to  the 
end. 

He  took  a  house  on  Columbia  Heights,  not  far  from  the 
bridge,  with  windows  looking  out  upon  it.  Here  from  his 
sick  room  with  a  telescope  he  watched  the  workmen  day  by 
day  and  hour  by  hour  for  ten  years,  sending  his  orders  as  to 


The  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

just  how  everything  should  be  done,  and  managing  the  con 
struction  almost  as  well  as  though  he  had  been  on  the  spot. 
We  close  our  day  by  riding  from  Washington  Square 
up  Fifth  Avenue,  on  the  top  of  a  motor  bus,  to  Central 
Park,  the  great  playground  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  New 
York.  The  Park  is  full  of  interesting  things,  and  is  one 
of  the  finest  and  most  famous  pleasure  grounds  of  the 
world.  Prospect  Park,  on  the  Brooklyn  side  of  East 


CENTRAL   PARK  83 

River,  is  another  delightful  place,  but  we  cannot  visit  it 
now.     After  another  restful  night  at  our  hotel,  we  take 


A  View  in  Central  Park. 


electric  cabs  for  the  Grand  Central  Railroad  Station, 
where  we  start  for  New  England  in  a  train  drawn  by  two 
electric  locomotives. 


10.  NEW  ENGLAND  — COMMERCE  AND 
MANUFACTURES 

NEW  ENGLAND  is  the  name  often  used  for  the 
northeastern  portion  of  the  United  States,  compris 
ing  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  six  of  the  smallest  states 
of  our  Union.  It  is  the  southern  part  of  the  great  penin 
sula,  which,  including  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and 
a  part  of  lower  Canada,  is  formed  by  the  Atlantic 


84  NEW  ENGLAND 

Ocean,  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  Lake  Ontario,  and  the 
Hudson.  Many  people  believe  that  this  was  the  first  part 
of  America  to  be  discovered  by  Europeans,  and  that  Leif 
Ericson,  a  Norseman,  sailed  along  its  coast  as  early  as  one 
thousand  A.D.  Some  years  after  Columbus  found  the  New 
World  its  shores  were  visited  by  other  explorers,  and  in 
1614,  Captain  John  Smith  having  sailed  along  them  made 
a  rough  map  of  the  coast  and  gave  the  region  the  name  of 
New  England.  Before  that  it  had  been  called  North  Vir 
ginia,  and  it  was  under  that  title  that  some  of  it  was 
granted  to  the  Plymouth  Company,  which  made  the  first 
settlement. 

The  soil  of  New  England  is  such  that  many  of  its  peo 
ple  can  make  more  money  in  other  ways  than  by  farming. 
A  large  part  of  the  land  is  mountainous.  The  Appala 
chian  Highlands  pass  through  it,  and  the  only  very  fertile 
spots  are  to  be  found  in  the  valleys  of  the  rivers,  and  in 
the  narrow  strip  of  Atlantic  plain  which  runs  around 
the  coast.  Much  of  Maine  is  covered  with  forests  and 
lakes,  and  some  of  the  land  in  other  New  England 
states  is  so  stony  that  it  can  be  used  only  for  the  rearing 
of  cattle  and  sheep.  More  than  half  the  food  consumed 
in  this  part  of  our  country  comes  from  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  The  New  England  winters  are  long  and  cold, 
and  the  ground  is  often  covered  with  snow  for  months  at 
a  time. 

You  might  think  that  this  would  be  one  of  the  poorest 
parts  of  the  United  States,  that  few  people  could  live  here, 
and  that  those  who  manage  to  exist  would  have  very  little 
money  indeed. 

Now  the  truth  is,  New  England  has  vast  wealth  and  a 
great  population.  The  southern  portion  of  it  is  the  most 
thickly  settled  part  of  our  country.  There  is  no  other 


COTTON  AND   WOOLEN   MILLS  85 

state  which  has  so  many  inhabitants  in  proportion  to  its 
size  as  Rhode  Island.  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
have  hundreds  of  cities  and  villages.  There  are  few 
places  in  the  world  where  men  live  so  well.  The  New 
Englanders  have  more  money  than  the  people  of  any 
other  section  of  the  same  size  in  the  United  States  ;  and 
Massachusetts  alone  has  enough  wealth  to  buy  some  of 
the  western  states  that  are  ten  times  larger. 

How  does  this  come  to  pass?  New  England  has  no 
great  gold,  silver,  or  iron  mines,  and  it  has  no  large  coal 
fields  like  those  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  secret  lies  in  manufacture  and  commerce.  The 
steep  mountains  which  seem  so  poor  to  us  are  one  of  the 
great  sources  of  the  riches  of  New  England.  They  lie 
near  the  sea  and  have  many  small  rivers  and  streams 
flowing  rapidly  down  them,  which  give  water  power  just  at 
the  places  where  ships  can  most  cheaply  bring  the  materials 
for  manufacturing,  and  from  where  the  goods  made  can 
be  easily  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  This  has  led  men 
to  build  factories  along  these  streams. 

Water  power  is  the  cheapest  of  all  power.  It  is  used  to 
generate  electricity  ;  and  a  great  part  of  our  manufacturing 
is  done  by  it.  One  little  stream  will  often  do  the  work  of  an 
hundred  horses,  and  indeed,  it  is  estimated  that  we  have  so 
much  power  of  this  kind  in  the  United  States  that  if  we  used 
the  whole  of  it,  it  would  be  stronger  than  several  hundred 
million  horses  all  pulling  at  once. 

The  people  of  New  England  learned  very  early  that  it 
was  hard  to  get  a  living  from  the  soil.  They  then  began 
to  manufacture  for  others,  and  soon  found  they  could 
earn  more  money  in  that  way  than  by  farming.  They  be 
came  so  skillful  that  they  could  make  goods  cheaply  and 
well.  As  our  country  grew  they  built  more  and  more 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  6 


86 


NEW   ENGLAND 


factories.  They  found  they  could  bring  in  coal  from 
Pennsylvania  at  slight  cost,  and  now  in  most  parts  of  New 
England  there  are  factories  moved  by  steam,  in  addition 
to  those  run  by  water. 

It   is    wonderful    how    many    things  are  made  in  New 
England.     Nearly  every  one  of  us  has  now  upon  him  one 


Interior  of  a  Cotton  Factory. 


or  more  of  its  products.  Many  kinds  of  cotton  goods 
come  from  its  factories,  and  we  may  visit  huge  mills  which 
are  weaving  ginghams,  muslins,  calicoes,  and  other  dress 
goods  out  of  the  woolly  fiber  of  the  plants  from  our 
southern  states.  In  other  places  they  are  making  sheets, 
towels,  and  handkerchiefs,  as  well  as  string  and  thread 
and  underwear  of  various  kinds.  The  cotton  in  great  bales 
of  five  hundred  pounds  each  is  brought  upon  ships  from 
Galveston,  New  Orleans,  and  other  parts  of  the  South. 
By  machinery  it  is  spun  into  thread  and  woven  into  cloth. 
The  enormous  water  power  of  the  Merrimac  and  other 


COTTOX   AND   WOOLEN   MILLS  87 

rivers  applied  to  such  weaving  and  other  manufacturing 
has  built  up  great  cities,  such  as  Nashua  and  Manchester 
in  New  Hampshire;  Fall  River,  New  Bedford,  Lowell,  and 
Lawrence  in  Massachusetts;  and  Pawtucket  and  Provi 
dence  in  Rhode  Island.  These  cities  are  largely  devoted 
to  making  cottons.  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford  make 
more  cotton  cloth  than  any  other  places  in  the  United 
States.  They  weave  so  much  every  year  that  if  it  could  be 
joined  into  one  strip  a  yard  wide,  it  would  reach  from 
Boston  to  San  Francisco  and  back.  There  are  also  many 
cotton  mills  in  the  South,  and  we  are  told  that  huge  fac 
tories  have  been  established  close  to  the  plantations  upon 
which  the  cotton  is  grown. 

A  large  part  of  the  woolen  goods  of  the  United  States 
is  made  in  New  England.  The  first  woolen  mill  of  Amer 
ica  was  started  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1788;  and 
when  George  Washington  was  inaugurated  President,  in 
1789,  he  wore  a  suit  made  of  cloth  woven  in  that  mill. 

So  many  of  our  boots  and  shoes  are  manufactured  in 
Massachusetts  that  tens  of  millions  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  may  be  said  to  have  a  part  of  that  state 
under  their  feet.  Connecticut  not  only  tells  us  when  to 
get  up  in  the  morning,  for  it  makes  the  most  of  our  clocks, 
but  it  also  helps  us  to  dress,  for  its  factories  produce  tons 
of  buttons,  millions  upon  millions  of  hooks  and  eyes,  and 
the  most  of  the  pins  which  fasten  our  clothes. 

In  Massachusetts  are  some  of  the  biggest  paper  mills  of 
this  country.  There  are  large  factories  in  Rhode  Island 
which  make  beautiful  jewelry,  and  in  Connecticut  are 
many  places  where  knives,  nails,  and  all  kinds  of  hardware 
are  manufactured. 

It  is  in  this  region  that  we  find  out  all  about  watches. 
In  southern  New  England  are  hundreds  of  men  and 


88  NEW   ENGLAND 

women  working  on  timepieces,  the  simplest  of  which 
have  only  fifty-four  parts,  and  the  more  expensive  ones 
several  times  that  number.  We  can  learn  a  lesson  in 
being  exact  by  noticing  the  care  with  which  every  part  has 
to  be  made.  In  the  finer  watches  there  are  steel  screws 
so  small  that  they  look  like  grains  of  sand.  It  would  take 
three  hundred  thousand  of  them  to  weigh  a  pound. 

As  we  go  through  the  factories  we  see  that,  after  all, 
steam  and  water  do  only  a  small  part  of  the  work.  It 
requires  many  men  and  women  to  run  the  machines  and 
to  do  certain  other  kinds  of  labor.  Some  parts  of  a  watch 
are  so  small  that  it  costs  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars 
in  wages  to  turn  a  pound  of  steel  into  them.  We  are  shown 
hair  springs  which  require  so  much  labor  that  it  is  said 
that  seventy-five  cents'  worth  of  iron  ore,  after  being  made 
into  them,  is  worth  four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Of 
this  less  than  one  dollar  would  be  for  the  ore,  and  most 
of  the  remainder  would  be  paid  to  the  men  who  do  the 
work.  By  this  you  can  see  how  manufacturing  supports 
a  vast  population. 

Another  great  source  of  New  England's  wealth  is  its 
commerce.  If  you  will  look  at  the  coast  of  Maine,  you 
may  observe  that  its  shores  run  in  and  out  almost  like  the 
teeth  of  a  saw.  It  is  called  the  "  State  of  One  Hundred 
Harbors."  There  are  .fine  harbors  in  Massachusetts,  and 
good  landing  places  for  ships  all  along  the  south  coast  of 
New  England  almost  to  New  York. 

What  do  you  think  would  be  the  business  of  a  people 
with  such  a  coast  ? 

There  would  be  much  shipping  and  many  sailors.  The 
boys,  hearing  the  sea  captains  tell  their  adventures,  would 
want  to  go  to  sea  and  become  captains  too.  Well,  this  is 
just  what  has  happened.  There  are  more  than  twelve 


COMMERCE   AND   MANUFACTURE 


thousand  Maine  men  who  are  sailors.  During  my  travels 
in  Asia  I  found  a  Massachusetts  sea  captain  command 
ing  a  steamer  on  a  Chinese  river,  and  there  are  New 
England  sailing  vessels  everywhere.  This  part  of  our 
country  has  now  a  large  foreign  commerce.  Boston  has 
in  its  harbor  ships  from  all  over  the  world,  and  a  great 
quantity  of  the  American  goods  which  are  exported 


View  of  Boston  Harbor. 

to  Europe  and  other  countries  is  first  sent  to  Boston. 
Among  other  large  seaports  are  Portland,  Maine ;  New 
Haven,  Connecticut;  and  Providence,  in  Rhode  Island,  all 
of  which  have  excellent  harbors. 

New  England  is  now  covered  with  railroads.  On  the 
railroad  which  crosses  the  Hoosac  Mountains,  there  is  a 
tunnel  almost  five  miles  long.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
important  tunnels  of  the  world.  It  aids  in  bringing  Boston 
into  direct  communication  with  Chicago  and  the  Mississippi 


90  NEW   ENGLAND 

Valley,  and  enables  much  of  our  wheat  and  other  products 
to  be  sent  to  Boston  and  carried  across  the  Atlantic.  There 
are  sections  of  New  England  where  the  railroads  are  more 
numerous  than  in  any  other  part  of  our  country.  They  cover 
its  southern  states  like  a  net,  and  in  traveling  over  them  we 
pass  an  almost  endless  procession  of  freight  trains  taking 
their  loads  to  or  frdm  the  many  harbors  along  the  coast. 

Have  you  ever  thought  what  a  large  part  commerce  has 
in  our  daily  life  ?  It  has  to  do  with  every  meal  that  we 
eat.  At  our  hotel  in  New  York  we  sat  down  to  dinner 
before  a  mahogany  table  made  from  trees  grown  in  the  West 
Indies.  Our  tablecloth  was  woven  from  Irish  flax,  and  our 
knives  were  of  steel  made  of  iron  which  was  dragged 
from  the  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  hundreds  of  miles  to 
the  westward.  We  drank  coffee  which  had  been  imported 
from  Brazil,  and  the  sugar  we  put  into  it  came  from  the 
cane  fields  of  Cuba  or  Louisiana.  We  had  a  splendid  cut 
of  roast  beef  which  six  months  ago  was  part  of  an  animal 
galloping  madly  over  some  western  prairie  with  a  cowboy 
behind  him.  We  sprinkled  it  with  salt  from  the  salt 
wells  of  Michigan,  and  seasoned  it  with  pepper  from  the 
island  of  Singapore,  on  the  other  side  of  the  world.  Our 
bread  was  of  wheat,  ground  into  flour  at  Minneapolis,  and 
brought  down  the  Great  Lakes  to  be  used  in  New  York. 
The  mince  pie  for  dessert  was  filled  with  currants  from 
Greece,  while  the  three-cornered  nuts  with  which  we  fin 
ished  our  meal  were  shaken  from  trees  in  the  forests  of 
the  Amazon  Valley. 

We  thus  see  how  commerce  and  manufactures  everywhere 
go  hand  in  hand.  The  factories  of  New  England  use  a 
vast  deal  of  stuff  which  is  brought  here  by  ships  from  Asia, 
Europe,  and  South  America,  and  we  can  find  things  from 
other  parts  of  the  world  in  almost  every  factory. 


SHOE    SHOPS    OF   LYXX  91 

Let  us  visit  one  of  the  shoemaking  establishments  of 
Lynn,  Massachusetts.  Some  of  the  leather  was  imported 
from  Russia  ;  some  of  it  came  in  the  shape  of  hides  from  the 
cattle  of  the  South  American  pampas,  and  some  from  those 
on  the  plains  of  Texas.  We  see  sk'ins  which  have  just 
arrived  from  France,  Germany,  or  England,  and  others  which 
were  shipped  from  India,  China,  or  the  peninsula  of  Korea. 

It  is  in  turning  the  skins  into  leather  that  manufacture 
first  joins  hands  with  commerce.  The  skins,  when  they 


Interior  of  a  Shoe  Shop,  Lynn. 

land  in  New  England,  are  much  as  they  were  when  they 
came  from  the  backs  of  the  animals.  They  have  to  be 
tanned  before  they  can  be  used.  They  are  soaked  for  a 
long  time  in  vats  of  water  filled  with  tan  bark  brought  from 
one  of  the  forest  regions  of  our  country ;  next  they  are 


92  NEW    ENGLAND 

scoured  and  dried,  then  greased  in  order  to  make  them  soft, 
and  then  covered  with  blacking;  so  that  a  single  skin  has 
to  be  handled  many  times  before  it  is  ready  for  shoes. 
The  nails,  buttons,  and  strings  used  in  shoemaking  are 
made  in  separate  factories  and  from  materials  which  come 
from  different  localities. 

By  machinery  and  by  working  together  men  can  produce 
things  more  quickly  and  at  a  much  less  cost  than  when  one 
man  did  all  the  work  with  his  hands.  In  the  shoe  shops 
of  our  forefathers  one  man  made  the  whole  shoe,  and  he 
probably  thought  he  was  doing  well  if  he  turned  out  a 
shoe  in  a  day.  There  are  machines  in  the  shops  of  Lynn 
that  will  sew  six  hundred  pairs  of  shoes  in  one  day,  and 
some  that  will  put  pegs  into  the  soles  at  the  rate  of  nine 
hundred  pegs  a  minute.  We  find  that  each  part  of  the  shoe 
is  made  by  a  different  machine,  and  that  one  man  works 
upon  certain  parts  only. 

All  kinds  of  manufacturing  are  now  done  in  this  way. 
It  takes  many,  many  men  to  produce  one  piece  of  cloth  ; 
and  if  we  should  go  to  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  where 
there  is  a  large  rifle  factory,  we  might  see  guns  which 
have  hundreds  of  parts,  each  made  by  a  different  man. 


ii.    AMONG    THE    MOUNTAINS    AND    LAKES 
OF    NEW    ENGLAND 

WE  shall  spend  a  part  of  to-day  among  the  mountains 
of  New  England.     The  Appalachian  range,  which 
begins    in  the    northern  part  of  Alabama  and  forms  the 
eastern   rim   of   the   great   Mississippi   and   St.    Lawrence 
basins,  runs  northward  through  New  England  and  on  into 


THE  WHITE    MOUNTAINS  93 

Canada.  It  is  made  up  of  many  ranges,  some  of  which 
are  parallel  vvitH  one  another.  With  its  valleys,  it  occupies 
a  space  almost  one  hundred  miles  wide.  Its  highest  eleva 
tions  are  to  be  found  in  North  Carolina,  but  its  most  pictur 
esque  parts  are  in  New  England.  The  White  Mountain 
region  of  New  Hampshire  is  so  beautiful  that  it  has  been 


The  White  Mountains- 

called  the  Switzerland  'of  America  by  travelers  who  have 
seen  the  Alps. 

The  highest  of  the  White  Mountains  is  Mount  Washing 
ton.  We  can  go  in  an  ordinary  train  to  the  foot  of  this 
mountain,  and  from  there  to  its  summit  over  one  of  the 
oddest  little  railroads  in  the  world.  The  mountain  is  more 
than  a  mile  high,  and  this  railroad  goes  right  up  to  its  top. 
In  some  places  the  track  is  so  steep  that  it  looks  more  like 


94  NEW    ENGLAND 

a  ladder  than  a  railroad,  and  the  cars  at  times  are  at  such  an 
angle  that  one  might  think  they  would  slide  to  the  bottom. 
This  is  prevented  by  an  interesting  device.  The  track 
has  three  rails  instead  of  two,  and  the  rail  in  the  center 
consists  of  two  bars  of  iron,  with  connecting  crosspieces 
placed  four  inches  apart  throughout  its  whole  length.  The 
little  locomotive  has  wheels  which  rest  on  the  outer  rails, 
and  also  a  wheel  with  cogs  which  fit  into  this  central  rail, 
the  cogs  moving  upon  the  crosspieces.  The  little  car  in 
v,  ,^.  ...  which  we  ride  is  in  front 

of  the  engine,  and  the  en 
gine  pushes  rather  than 
pulls  us  upward  into  the 
clouds. 

up°n  fine  days> such 

Railroad  up  Mount  Washington.  aS    the    OnC    WC   haVG    f°F 

our  journey,  the  car  win 
dows  are  open,  so  that  we  can  see  almost  as  well  as  though 
in  a  carriage.  We  sit  with  our  backs  to  the  summit,  look 
ing  down  the  mountain;  and  as  we  rise  behold  masses  of 
vapor  nestling  in  the  sides  of  the  hills  below  us.  Nearer 
the  top  we  pass  through  volumes  of  mist,  and  are  told  that 
there  are  many  times  when  the  summit  of  Mount  Washing 
ton  is  hidden  in  clouds. 

At  last  the  sun  clears  the  sky,  and  we  enjoy  the  mag 
nificent  views  to  be  had  all  about  us.  We  can  see  the 
other  mountains  of  the  Presidential  Range.  There  are 
Mount  Adams,  Mount  Jefferson,  and  Mount  Madison,  all 
of  which  are  more  than  a  mile  high ;  and  near  them 
are  lesser  mountains,  named  after  Presidents  Monroe  and 
Jackson.  From  the  summit  we  get  a  peep  into  Canada, 
and  away  off  in  the  distance  lies  Mount  Katahdin  in 
Maine. 


TROUT   FISHING  95 

There   is  a  hotel    on    the  top   of    Mount   Washington ; 
and  we  may  travel  through  the  Green  Mountains  in  Ver 
mont,  the  Catskills  and  the  Adirondacks  in  New  York,  and 
about  through  the  beautiful  hills  and  lakes  of  Maine,  and 
always  find    good    places  at  which  to  stay.     During   the 
summer  these  mountains  are  visited  by  people  from  the 
lowlands,  who  come  here  to  get  away  from  the  heat  and 
enjoy  the  pure  air  and  beautiful  scen 
ery.     Maine  has  large  forests  of  pine    f~~ 
and  other  trees,  in   which   there  are    \ 

\    Mf  \'      /      />' 

still  deer  and  bears,  and  there^  is  fine 
shooting  in  many  parts  of  New  Hamp 
shire  and  Vermont. 

We  can  have  good  fishing  almost 
anywhere  in  northern  New  England. 
There  are  trout  streams  in  the  moun 
tains,  and  in  Maine  hundreds  of  lakes  ^* 

w. 

in  which  there  are  salmon  and  other 
fine  fish.  New  England  supplies  a 
large  amount  of  the  fish  of  the  United 
States,  although  the  most  of  those  ex 
ported  are  caught  in  salt  water. 

All  along  the  coast  there  are  thou 
sands  of  men  and  boys  who  fish  for 
a  livelihood.     Some  of  them  have  fish 
ing  vessels,  in  which  they  go  far  away 
from  home  to  what  are  known  as  the          Trout  Fishing' 
banks  of  Newfoundland.     They  catch  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of   fish   every  year,   and  bring  them   back  to   the 
United  States  for  sale. 

In  our  travels  through  the  mountains  we  shall  see  the 
wealth  that  New  England  has  in  its  hills.  We  know  that 
the  streams  flowing  rapidly  down  them  supply  the  water 


96 


NEW   ENGLAND 


power  which  moves  many  of  the  factories  in  the  lowlands. 
The  mountains  also  furnish  other  things  of  value,  although 
they  have  no  great  beds  of  coal  and  iron,  such  as  are  found 
in  the  Appalachian  chain  farther  south. 

The  stone  of  New  England  is  worth  a  great  deal  of 
money.  We  find  vast  quarries  in  which  granite,  one  of  the 
hardest  of  stones,  is  being  blasted  out  with  dynamite  and 
cut  into  blocks,  to  be  shipped  to  all  parts  of  our  country. 
Many  of  our  cities  are  paved  with  granite  which  has  come 
from  this  region,  and  some  of  our  public  buildings  are  made 
of  such  stone.  Beautiful  marble  is  found  in  New  England, 

and  in  fact  almost  half 
of  all  the  marble  used  in 
our  country  comes  from 
Vermont,  though  much 
is  now  being  quarried  in 
parts  of  Tennessee  and 
Georgia. 

In  visiting  the  various 
quarries  we  see  that  more 
care  is  used  in  getting 
out  marble  than  in  quar 
rying  granite.  The  rough 
blocks  of  marble  are  cut 
by  what  might  be  called 
a  sand  saw.  This  is 
A  Granite  Quarry.  merely  a  long  strip  of 

steel.  A  little  groove  is  cut  in  the  stone,  and  is  filled  with 
a  very  hard  sand.  Then  the  steel  strip  is  moved  by  ma 
chinery  back  and  forth  on  the  stone  so  that  it  rubs  the 
sand  in  the  crack  against  the  marble,  and  the  sand  docs 
the  cutting.  After  the  stones  have  been  sawed  into  the 
proper  shapes,  they  are  carefully  smoothed  and  polished. 


THE    QUARRIES 


97 


They  are  then  ready  for  shipment,  and  are  sent  away  on 
the  cars. 

But  what  kind  of  stone  is  of  most  use  to  a  schoolboy? 

.Marble?  No;  that  is  chiefly  for  mantels,  tables,  tomb 
stones,  ornamental  buildings,  and  other  such  things. 

Granite  ?  No ;  granite  is  employed  for  building  and  other 
purposes  where  a  strong  and  beautiful  stone  is  required. 

The  stone  which  is  used  every  day  in  many  schools  is 
slate,  a  large  part  of  which  comes  from  New  England,  al 
though  a  great  deal  is  quarried  in  Pennsylvania  and  else 
where.  Slate  can  be  easily  split  into  the  thin  sheets  which 


Collecting  Sugar  Water  —  Vermont. 

are  used  for  making  school  slates  and  slate  roofs.  In 
making  our  slates  the  sheets  have  to  be  smoothed  by 
rubbing  them  with  sand  and  emery  powder.  A  great  many 
school  slates  are  manufactured  at  Bangor,  Maine,  and  we 
can  there  see  boys  and  girls  attending  the  machines  which 
turn  out  thousands  of  school  slates  every  day. 


98  BOSTON 

But  there  is  something  else  made  in  New  England  which 
every  boy  and  girl  is  glad  to  get.  I  refer  to  maple  sugar, 
which  comes  from  the  sap  of  the  maple  tree.  The  sap  is 
gathered  in  the  spring,  after  the  first  thaw,  at  which  time  it 
begins  to  move  in  the  trees.  Holes  are  then  bored  in  the 
trunks  not  far  above  the  ground,  and  little  wooden  tubes 
are  driven  into  them.  Soon  the  sap  begins  to  flow.  It 
oozes  from  the  trees  into  the  tubes,  and  drop  by  drop  falls 
into  buckets  which  are  hung  beneath  them  or  placed  at  the 
foot  of  the  trees.  As  the  drops  hang  on  the  end  of  the 
tube  they  look  just  like  water.  Catch  one  of  them  upon 
your  finger  and  taste  it.  It  is  sweet.  The  water  in  the 
bucket  is  called  sugar  water. 

After  the  buckets  are  filled,  which  occurs  perhaps  once 
or  twice  a  day,  the  sugar  water  is  carried  to  the  sugar  house, 
where  it  is  put  into  large  kettles  to  be  boiled.  The  water 
evaporates  as  the  boiling  goes  on,  until  after  a  time  we 
have  left  a  sirup  which  grows  thicker  and  thicker.  When 
it  is  thick  enough  for  table  use,  a  part  is  taken  out  and 
poured  into  cans.  The  rest  is  boiled  still  longer  and  run 
off  into  molds,  and  as  it  cools  it  hardens  into  sugar. 


12.     IN  BOSTON 

WE  have  no  trouble  in  getting  to  Boston.  It  is  the 
largest  and  wealthiest  city  of  the  northeastern  sec 
tion  of  our  country.  There  are  railroads  to  it  from  all  parts 
of  New  England,  and  it  has  one  of  the  best  harbors  of  the 
Atlantic  coast.  It  is  so  situated  that  it  forms  an  excellent 
port  for  shipping  the  goods  made  in  New  England  to  other 


BOSTON  99 

countries  by  sea,  and  also  for  exporting  our  farming  prod 
ucts  and  other  things  to  Europe. 

Boston  stands  next  to  New  York  in  the  amount  of  its 
foreign  commerce.  Moreover,  its  harbor  and  railway  facili 
ties  allow  the  materials  for  manufacturing  to  be  brought 
in  so  cheaply  that  it  has  become  a  great  commercial  city. 
There  are  about  a  hundred  thousand  persons  working  in  its 
factories.  It  has  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  million  inhab 
itants,  and  is  so  surrounded  by  villages  whose  people  do 
business  in  Boston  that  within  a  few  miles  of  its  center 
there  are  now  living  more  than  a  million  and  a  half. 

As  we  step  from  the  cars  the  crowds  seem  even  greater 
than  they  were  in  New  York.  The  railroad  station  covers 
more  than  eleven  acres,  and  over  four  hundred  trains  go  in 
and  out  of  it  every  day.  The  city  has  surface  and  elevated 
railways,  and  also  underground  roads  which  carry  several 
hundred  millions  of  passengers  each  year. 

We  first  visit  the  old  business  section.  Here  the  town 
seems  cramped,  and  the  streets  are  narrow  and  crooked.  The 
buildings  are  high,  and  between  Washington  Street  and 
Boston  Common  they  contain  so  many  people  that  they 
make  us  think  of  enormous  boxes  divided  into  compart 
ments  packed  with  men  carrying  on  different  kinds  of 
work. 

We  spend  some  time  on  Boston  Common.  This  is  a  beau 
tiful  park  of  forty-eight  acres  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  which, 
until  about  fifty  years  ago,  when  Central  Park  was  laid 
out,  was  considered  the  finest  playground  in  the  United 
States.  Boston  Common  is  shaded  by  old  elm  trees,  and 
at  one  side  of  it  there  is  a  great  oblong  building  whose 
golden  dome  may  be  seen  from  almost  every  part  of  the 
city.  That  is  the  state  house,  where  the  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  has  his  offices  and  the  legislature  meets  every  year 


100 


BOSTON 


to  make  laws  for  the  state.     In  the  center  of  the  Common 

is  the  Frog  Pond,  about  which  the  boys  play  in  the  summer. 

During  our  tour  through  the  city  we  pass  other  fine  parks 

and    numerous    playgrounds    containing  open-air   gymna- 


Boston  Common. 

siums,  and  learn  that  Boston  has  many  beautiful  streets. 
Commonwealth  Avenue,  for  instance,  is  almost  one  hundred 
feet  wider  than  Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  Washington,  and 
through  its  center  runs  a  park  of  trees,  among  which  are 
footpaths.  There  are  fine  residences  on  both  sides  of  the 
avenue,  and  at  night,  when  the  street  is  lighted  with  four 
rows  of  lamps,  and  the  carriages  and  automobiles  of  rich 
Bostonians  are  passing  to  and  fro  upon  it,  it  presents 
one  of  the  splendid  sights  of  the  world. 

The  Bostonians  have  always  been  noted  for  their  cul 
ture    and  learning,  and    some    of    our  best-loved  authors 


CAMBRIDGE, 


101 


have  come  from  here.  Nathaniel  KawjtbQme,,T*:ho  #r eke  the 
"Wonder  Book"  and  the  "  Tanglewood  Tales'"  was  once 
employed  in  the  Boston  Custom  House;  Prescott,  the  blind 
historian,  the  author  of  the  "  Conquest  of  Mexico,"  lived  in 
the  city;  and  Bancroft,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and  Holmes 


•  Scollay  Square,  Boston. 

resided  at  Cambridge  near  by.  The  city  has  large  book 
stores  and  publishing  houses,  and  its  libraries  and  museums 
are  among  the  best  to  be  found  anywhere.  It  has  musical, 
scientific,  and  other  schools,  as  well  as  several  large  colleges. 
At  Cambridge  we  visit  Harvard  University,  which  has  now 
more  than  eight  hundred  teachers  and  over  six  thousand 
students.  It  is  the  oldest  institution  of  its  kind  in  our 
country,  having  been  founded  in  1636,  or  more  than  sixty 
years  before  the  opening  of  Yale  at  New  Haven,  Connect 
icut.  Yale  and  Harvard  were  for  a  long  time  the  most 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  7 


1O2 


-  BOSTON 


Harvard  Gateway. 


famous  of  oui  Colleges  ;N but 'to-day  there  are  good  schools 
and  colleges  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  in  Cambridge 
that  General  Washing 
ton  took  command  of 
the  army  of  the  Revo 
lution.  This  was  on 
the  3d  of  July,  1775. 
Boston  was  then  in  the 
I  — -  hands  of  the  British, 
and  General  Washing 
ton  besieged  it.  We 
can  visit  Dorchester 
Heights,  where  Washington  put  his  cannon  during  the  last 
of  the  siege.  From  these  heights  he  could  fire  upon  the 
city  and  at  the  ships  in  the 
harbor,  and  thus  he  forced  the 
British  to  leave. 

New  England  people  have 
always  been  noted  for  their 
bravery.  Everywhere  in  Bos 
ton  we  see  things  which  re 
mind  us  of  the  stirring  times 
of  the  past,  when  it  took  real 
courage  to  be  a  true  Ameri 
can  citizen.  Let  us  ride  out 
to  the  Bunker  Hill  Monu 
ment.  It  stands  on  the  site 
where  the  Americans  fought 
the  British  so  bravely  before 
Washington  came.  This  section  of  Boston  is  now  thickly 
settled,  but  the  monument  marks  the  place  of  the  battle. 
It  is  a  shaft  of  granite,  the  corner  stone  of  which  was 


Bunker  Hill  Monument. 


BOSTOX  TEA  PARTY 


I03 


laid  by  General  Lafayette  in  1825.  There  are  steps  inside 
it  by  which  we  can  walk  to  the  top  and  look  over  the  city. 
On  the  ground  below  us  we  see  the  statue  of  Colonel  Wil 
liam  Prescott,  who  commanded  the  Americans  that  day. 
It  represents  him  as  he  looked  when  the  English  were 
coming,  and  when  he  held  back  his  men  until  they  could 
do  the  most  damage,  saying :  "  Don't  fire  till  I  tell  you ! 
Don't  fire  till  you  see  the  whites  of  their  eyes  !  " 

Later  on,  as  we  stroll  along  the  wharves  of  the  harbor, 
we  think  of  the  famous  Boston  tea  party,  when  fifty  of  the 
men  and  boys  of  the  town,  disguised  as  Indians,  ran 
yelling  down  to  these  wharves,  and  boarding  the  English 
ships  which  were  loaded  with  tea  for  Amer 
ica,  emptied  the  chests  of  tea  into  the 
water. 

The  English  government  had  said  that 
Americans  must  pay  taxes  upon  their  tea, 
but  the  Americans  claimed  that  the  Eng 
lish  had  no  right  to  tax  them  without  their 
consent.  Hence  they  refused  to  drink  tea, 
or  to  wear  any  kind  of  goods  from  Eng 
land  upon  which  they  had  to  pay  taxes. 
They  decided  to  dress  in  clothes  made  in 
America,  and  to  drink  tea  of  sage,  sas 
safras  roots,  and  other  American  plants. 

When  the  English  people  heard  how 
their  tea  had  been  destroyed  in  Boston, 
they  became  angry,  and  the  English  Par 
liament  said  that  no  more  ships  should  come  into  the 
Boston  harbor  until  the  city  paid  for  the  tea.  This  caused 
.great  trouble  in  Boston,  and  aided  in  bringing  on  the 
Revolutionary  War.  To-day  England  is  glad  to  send 
goods  to  Boston  without  any  tax.  Into  this  same  harbor, 


Old  North  Church. 


104  BOSTON 

which  was  then  closed,  now  come  much  of  the  goods  which 
our  people  buy  of  England,  and  out  of  it  go  vast  quantities 
of  products  which  we  sell  to  her. 

We  next  visit  the  old  North  Church,  in  the  steeple  of 
which  the  lanterns  were  hung  that  night  when  the  British 
soldiers  started  out  to  march  against  the  Americans  at 
Lexington  and  Concord.  The  lanterns  were  to  tell  the 
patriots  across  the  river  that  the  British  were  coming. 
This  signal  had  been  planned  by  Paul  Revere,  who  sc 
bravely  carried  the  news  from  Boston  to  Lexington 
While  a  friend  was  hanging  up  the  lanterns,  Revert 
crossed  the  river  in  a  rowboat,  passing  close  by  a  British 
warship  on  his  way.  He  found  his  patriot  friends  astir, 
and  messengers  were  soon  hurrying  in  all  directions  to 
rouse  the  Americans.  Longfellow's  poem  tells  how 
Revere  sprang  to  his  saddle,  and  then  there  was  — 

"  A  hurry  of  hoofs  in  the  village  street, 
A  shape  in  the  moonlight,  a  bulk  in  the  dark, 
And  beneath,  from  the  pebbles,  in  passing,  a  spark 
Struck  out  by  a  steed  flying  fearless  and  fleet ; 
That  was  all  !  and  yet  through  the  gleam  and  the  light 
The  fate  of  a  nation  \vas  riding  that  night ; 
And  the  spark  struck  out  by  that  steed  in -its  flight 
Kindled  the  land  into  flame  with  its  heat.   .   .  . 
You  know  the  rest.     In  the  books  you  have  read 
How  the  British  regulars  fired  and  fled, — 
How  the  farmers  gave  them  ball  for  ball. 
From  behind  each  fence  and  farmyard  Wall ; 
Chasing  the  redcoats  down  the  lane, 
Then  crossing  the  field  to  emerge  again 
Under  the  trees  at  the  turn  of  the  road, 
And  only  pausing  to  fire  and  load. 

"  So  through  the  night  rode  Paul  Revere  , 
And  so  through  the  night  went  his  cry  of  alarm 
To  every  Middlesex  village  and  farm,  — 


PAUL   REVERE 

A  cry  of  defiance  and  not  of  fear, 

A  voice  in  the  darkness,  a  knock  at  the  door, 

And  a  word  that  shall  echo  for  evermore! 


I05 


For,  borne  on  the  night  wind  of  the  past, 
Through  all  our  history,  to  the  last, 
In  the  hour  of  darkness  and  peril  and  need 
The  people  shall  waken  and  listen  to  hear 
The  hurrying  hoof  beats  of  that  steed, 
And  the  midnight  message  of  Paul  Revere." 

The  story  of  early  New  England  is  made  up  of  fights 
with  the  Indians  and  fights  with  the  British.  Nearly  all 
the  ground  over  which  we  have  traveled  has  been  fought 
for  again  and  again. 

There  are  many  places  about  Boston  which  will  always 
be  noted  in  the  history  of  our  country.  Plymouth, 
where  the  Pilgrims  landed  from  the  Mayflower  after  they 
had  crossed  the  ocean,  is  only  thirty  miles  away.  We  reach 


io6 


BOSTON 


it  by  railroad  in  but  little  more  than  an  hour.  It  is  now  a 
beautiful  little  city  of  about  ten  thousand  people,  and  as 
we  look  at  its  comfortable  homes  we  cannot  realize  the 
hardships  our  forefathers  suffered  during  their  first  winter 
in  New  England. 

The  Mayflower  came  into  the  harbor  at  Plymouth  on  a 
cold  December  day  in  the  year  1620.  She  had  just  one 
hundred  passengers.  On  account  of  their  religion  they 
had  been  driven  from  England  to  Holland,  and  had  now 

come  to  America  that 
they  might  be  able  to 
worship  God  in  their  own 
way.  They  stepped  from 
their  boat  upon  a  great 
stone,  which  has  become 
famous  as  Plymouth 
Rock.  This  rock  is  now 
honored  by  all  New  Eng 
land  people,  and  we  find 
a  part  of  it  in  Plymouth 
under  a  canopy  of  dressed 
stone. 

From  the  time  of  their 
landing,  the  Pilgrims  were 
in  great  fear  of  the  In 
dians.  They  had  no 
houses  at  first,  and  in 
the  rude  huts  which  they 
put  up  they  suffered  such 
privations  that  more  than  half  of  them  died  within  less 
than  a  year. 

We  find  many  relics  of  these  times  in  Pilgrim  Hall. 
Here  is  the  very  sword  which  Miles  Standish,  the  chief 


Plymouth  Rock. 


SOUTH  BY   STEAMER  107 

soldier  of  the  colony,  used  in  his  fights  with  the  Indians ; 
and,  what  is  even  more  interesting,  the  cradle  in  which  the 
first  white  child  born  in  New  England  was  rocked.  This 
cradle  is  a  little  wicker  affair  with  rockers  of  wood.  It  is 
much  like  a  basket  with  a  sort  of  hood  at  the  back.  As  we 
look,  we  can  see  in  our  imagination  poor  little  Peregrine 
White,  for  that  was  the  baby  boy's  name,  crying  in  it  all 
alone  ;  and  we  can  realize  somewhat  the  extent  to  which 
our  country  has  grown  when  we  learn  that  there  are  now 
more  than  two  million  American  babies  born  every  year. 


13.     FROM    NEW    ENGLAND     SOUTH    BY 
STEAMER 

WE  leave  New  England  to-day.  We  are  bound  for 
the  lands  of  the  sun.  There  are  good  steamers 
from  Boston  to  all  our  southern  ports,  and  we  take  ship 
for  Norfolk,  Virginia.  We  steam  out  of  the  harbor,  and 
sail  about  Cape  Cod,  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  past  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  to  the  mouth  of  Chesa 
peake  Bay.  Much  of  the  time  we  are  out  of  sight  of  land, 
and  it  is  about  two  days  before  we  see  the  lights  of  Cape 
Charles,  and  pass  over  what  is  known  as  Hampton  Roads 
to  the  mouth  of  the  James  River. 

Here  on  our  left  is  the  thriving  seaport  of  Norfolk,  and 
upon  our  right,  beyond  the  wharves,  grain  elevators,  and 
shipyards  of  Newport  News,  is  Old  Point  Comfort,  where 
Captain  John  Smith  landed  with  his  party  from  England 
when  he  first  arrived  in  America  in  1607,  thirteen  years 
before  Plymouth  was  founded.  Captain  John  Smith  stayed 
for  a  time  upon  this  point,  near  where  the  little  town  of 


I08  VIRGINIA 

Hampton  now  is,  before  he  sailed  up  the  James  River  and 
founded  Jamestown. 

It  was  at  Hampton  that  Captain  Smith  had  his  first 
meeting  with  the  Indians.  There  are  Indians  at  Hamp 
ton  now,  but  we  find  them  more  friendly  than  those  who 
greeted  him.  Our  Indians  are  far  differ 
ent  from  the  half-naked  redskins,  with 
paint  on  their  bodies  and  feathers  on  their 
heads,  who  roamed  through  America  when 
the  English  colonists  came.  The  Indians 
we  see  belong  to  the  famous  Hampton 
Institute,  devoted  to  the  education  of  ne 
groes  and  Indians.  Here  boys  and  girls 
captam  John  smith.  from  manv  of  the  savage  tribes  of  the 
West  come  to  school.  They  dress  as  we  do  and  learn  to 
lead  civilized  lives.  They  are  taught  English ;  the  boys 
learn  trades  and  the  girls  how  to  cook,  sew,  and  keep  house. 
The  climate  is  warmer  here  than  it  is  in  New  England. 
There  are  many  new  plants  and  other  things  which  show 
us  that  we  are  in  a  different  part  of  our  country. 
What  a  great  number  of  colored  people  we  see ! 
We  are  now  in  Virginia,  the  lands  of  which,  like  those 
of  the  states  farther  south,  were  once  composed  of  large 
plantations,  worked  by  negroes  as  slaves.  These  people 
belong  to  a  different  race  from  the  whites.  The  first  of 
them  were  brought  by  force  from  Africa  to  be  used  as 
slaves.  They  were  kept  in  slavery  until  freed  during  the 
great  Civil  War  between  the  North  and  the  South.  After 
the  war  was  over,  nearly  all  the  colored  people  remained 
in  the  South.  In  some  southern  states,  such  as  South 
Carolina  and  Mississippi,  they  still  number  more  than  the 
whites.  There  are  so  many  of  them  that  they  make  up 
more  than  one  tenth  of  all  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


NORFOLK 


109 


Our  colored  people  are,  as  a  rule,  good  citizens.  Hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  them  now  own  their  homes  and 
farms,  many  have  learned  trades  or  professions,  and  a 
large  number  have  engaged  in  business  of  various  kinds. 
Nearly  all  of  them  send  their  children  to  school,  and  not  a 
few  colored  boys  and  girls  are  going  to  college.  We  find 
hundreds  of  them  being  educated  at  the  Hampton  Institute. 

But  let  me  tell  you  an  interesting  thing  about  Norfolk. 
You  may  know  that  it  has  a  good  harbor;  for  it  is  at  the 
mouth  of  the  James  River,  and  large  steamships  come  to 
its  wharves.  You  may  have  heard  that  many  millions  of 
oysters  are  brought  here  in  the  shell  from  the  beds  at  the 
mouths  of  the  rivers 
which  flow  into  Chesa 
peake  Bay,  and  that  they 
are  here  opened  and 
shipped  to  the  markets 
all  over  the  country. 

These  are  not  the 
things  I  want  to  tell  you. 
It  is  about  peanuts. 
Norfolk  is  the  chief 
peanut  market  of  the 
United  States.  From 
here  tons  of  peanuts  are 
sent  out  every  year,  and 
we  may  see  the  crop 
growing  all  about  Nor 
folk.  The  nuts  are  also 
raised  in  other  parts  of  Virginia,  and  in  North  Carolina, 
Georgia,  and  Tennessee. 

When  we  think  that  peanuts  are  usually  sold  in  small 
quantities,  at  five  cents  a  pint,  we  can  hardly  believe  that 


A  Peanut  Vine. 


110  VIRGINIA 

the  crop  can  be  of  much  value.  But  there  are  so  many 
pints  of  peanuts  sold  every  year  that  altogether  they  make 
up  several  million  bushels,  and  a  good  crop  sometimes 
brings  as  much  as  ten  million  dollars. 

Many  of  our  peanuts  are  shipped  from  Norfolk  to 
Europe.  There  they  are  put  into  presses,  and  the  oil  is 
squeezed  out  of  them  by  machinery.  Peanut  oil  is  whole 
some  and  palatable  and  is  cheaper  than  olive  oil.  It  is 
used  in  salads,  and  in  cooking,  and  for  other  things. 

But  how  do  you  think  peanuts  are  raised  ? 

They  do  not  grow  upon  trees,  or  even  on  bushes.  They 
grow  underground,  and  are  sometimes  called  ground  peas. 
They  are  planted  like  potatoes  or  corn.  The  nuts  are 
first  shelled,  the  farmers  being  careful  not  to  break  the 
little  red  skins  on  the  kernels.  It  takes  about  two  bushels 
of  nuts  in  the  shell  to  furnish  the  seed  for  an  acre,  and  an 
acre  planted  will  produce,  according  to  the  richness  of  the 
soil,  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  bushels. 

The  nuts  are  planted  in  hills  or  in  rows,  and  are  plowed 
and  hoed  to  keep  down  the  weeds.  The  planting  is  done 
in  May.  Soon  the  little  green  vines  peep  forth  from  the 
ground.  They  spread  over  the  hills,  sending  out  little 
stalks  on  which  the  flowers  grow.  These  stalks  with  the 
seed  pods  finally  run  down  into  the  soil,  where  the  seeds 
ripen  into  peanuts. 

In  the  fall  the  nuts  are  ready  to  harvest.  The  vines 
are  then  dug  up,  and  after  the  earth  has  been  shaken  off 
they  are  stacked  around  poles  seven  feet  high,  with  the 
nuts  hanging  to  them.  About  two  weeks  after  this  the 
nuts  are  picked  from  the  vines  by  women  and  children, 
who  are  paid  so  much  a  bushel. 

The  nuts  are  still  covered  with  earth,  and  the  next  pro 
cess  is  cleaning  them  by  machines  much  like  the  fanning 


JAMESTOWN 


III 


mills  used  by  farmers  for  cleaning  grain.  After  this  they 
are  sorted  by  colored  women  and  children,  who  pick  out 
the  bad  ones  as  the  nuts  pass  by  them  on  a  moving  belt 
about  a  yard  wide.  The  peanuts  are  now  ready  for  mar 
ket  and  are  put  into  bags  to  be  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

From  Norfolk  we  take  the  steamer  which  sails  up  the 
James  River  to  Richmond,  the  capital  of  Virginia.  The 
James  is  wide  for  some  distance  from  its  mouth.  The  land 
along  the  banks  is  low,  and  the  soil  is  good.  As  we  look 
at  the  rich  farms  on  both  sides  of  us,  we  can  imagine  how 
happy  Captain  John  Smith  and  his  company  felt  as  they 
sailed  over  this  same 


river,    now    more    than 


three  hundred  years  ago. 
We  have  traveled  but 
a  few  hours  when  we 
reach  the  point  where 
they  stopped  and  be 
gan  building  what  they 
thought  was  to  be  the 
great  city  of  the  New 
World. 

This  was  Jamestown, 
or,  as  they  called  it, 
James  City.  It  was  the 
chief  settlement  in  Vir 
ginia  when  Virginia  in 
cluded  our  whole  eastern 
coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  New  England  was  called 
North  Virginia  at  first,  and  it  was  not  until  Captain  John 
Smith  visited  it  that  it  was  named  New  England. 

There   is  nothing  like  a  city  at  Jamestown  now.     All 


Tower  at  Jamestown. 
(The  church  itsell  was  rebuilt  in  1907.) 


112  VIRGINIA 

that  was  left  when  I  visited  it  some  years  ago  was  the 
ruined  ivy-covered  tower  of  the  church.  This  stood  upon 
an  island  in  the  river,  but  the  waters  were  fast  eating  away 
the  banks  of  the  island,  which  have  since  been  walled  in 
with  stone.  Not  a  man  was  in  sight.  The  only  sign  of 
life  was  a  cow,  which  was  eating  grass  near  the  ruins,  and 
the  only  sound  was  the  croaking  of  a  frog  that  was  peep 
ing  out  of  the  water  from  under  the  bank. 

The  Jamestown-  colony  had  a  worse  time  than  the 
Plymouth  colony.  The  Indians  fought  them,  hiding  for  a 
time  in  the  woods  about  the  little  settlement,  and  killed 
every  one  who  ventured  out.  During  one  of  their  sieges 
of  Jamestown  the  colonists  could  get  nothing  to  eat, 
and  were  forced  to  feed  upon  dogs,  horses,  and  all  sorts  of 
reptiles,  such  as  snakes  and  toads.  That  was  when  the 
colony  had  grown  to  the  extent  of  five  hundred  by  the 
landing  of  more  ships  from  England.  The  period  was 
known  as  the  Starving  Time  ;  and  when  it  ended  with  the 
arrival  of  a  shipload  of  provisions,  only  sixty  out  of  the 
five  hundred  were  alive. 

You  would  think  that  with  such  troubles  the  English 
would  have  given  up  trying  to  settle  America.  The 
colonists  discovered  no  gold  as  they  had  been  told  they 
would.  They  saw,  however,  that  the  land  was  rich,  and 
as  time  went  on  found  that  there  was  much  money  to  be 
made  in  the  raising  of  tobacco. 

We  do  not  think  it  is  good  for  men  to  use  tobacco.  Still 
this  plant  has  had  a  part  in  the  history  of  our  country.  It 
is  to-day  one  of  our  most  valuable  crops,  and  we  decide  to 
go  south  from  Richmond  to  visit  some  of  the  plantations 
and  learn  how  it  is  raised. 

No  one  in  Europe  knew  anything  about  tobacco  until 
'Columbus  discovered  America.  The  tobacco  plant  was 


TOBACCO  113 

first  found  on  our  hemisphere,  and  among  the  wonderful 
stories  which  the  explorers  of  those  early  days  told,  when 
they  returned  to  Europe,  was  how  the  Indians  ate  fire  and 
breathed  the  smoke  out  of  their  nostrils.  Many  of  the 
travelers  learned  to  use  pipes,  and  to  smoke  as  the  Indians 
did.  They  introduced  the  custom  into  Europe,  and  tobacco 


Tobacco  Field. 

smoking  became  fashionable  among  the  ladies  and  gentle 
men  of  that  time. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  one  of  the  first  smokers  in  Eng 
land.  One  day,  it  is  said,  when  he  was  puffing  away  at  his 
pipe,  a  servant  came  in  with  a  pitcher  of  ale  in  his  hand. 
This  man  had  never  heard  of  tobacco,  and  when  he  saw  the 
smoke  coming  out  of  Raleigh's  nose  he  thought  his  master 
was  burning  up,  and  threw  the  ale  over  him  to  put  the  fire 
out.  Raleigh  had  sent  several  expeditions  to  America, 


114  VIRGINIA 

and  Ralph  Lane,  the  captain  of  one  of  these,  brought 
some  tobacco  home  with  him. 

As  the  custom  of  tobacco  using  grew,  the  crop  became 
valuable.  It  was  long  the  chief  product  of  Virginia;  and  at 
one  time  the  colonists  used  it  as  money,  so  that  a  man 
could  take  pieces  of  tobacco  to  the  store  to  buy  sugar  and 
tea  and  other  things  for  his  table. 

We  now  sell  vast  quantities  of  tobacco  every  year  to  the 
people  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  South  America.  More 


Tobacco  Auction. 

of  this  article  is  produced  in  the  United  States  than  in  any 
other  country.  Our  tobacco  crop  is  sometimes  worth 
more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars,  and  a  great  part 
of  it  is  used  in  other  lands. 

Tobacco  is  now  raised  in  almost  every  one  of  our  states 
and  territories.  Our  chief  tobacco  lands  are  in  Kentucky, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  but  large  amounts 


TOBACCO  115 

are  also  raised  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin,  Connect 
icut,  and  South  Carolina.  The  climate  and  soil  in  parts  of 
these  states  seem  to  be  just  fitted  for  the  plant,  and  we  see 
tobacco  fields  everywhere  as  we  ride  along  the  southern 
boundary  of  Virginia  and  through  North  Carolina.  The 
leaves  of  this  plant  are  much  like  cabbage  leaves,  but  they 
are  longer  and  smoother  and  of  a  dark-green  color.  The 
stalks  are  as  big  around  as  our  thumbs,  and  some  are  so  tall 
that  if  we  stripped  off  the  leaves  we  could  use  them  for  canes. 

It  is  by  no  means  an  easy  thing  to  raise  tobacco.  The 
seed  must  first  be  planted  in  a  bed,  made  by  covering  a 
piece  of  ground  with  wood,  and  burning  it,  so  that  all  the 
insects,  vegetable  matter,  and  seeds  are  killed.  After  this 
the  bed  is  manured  and  the  tobacco  seed  sown.  A  wide 
sheet  of  thin  cloth  is  then  spread  over  the  bed  to  hold  in 
the  heat  and  to  keep  out  the  insects. 

How  big  do  you  think  a  tobacco  seed  is? 

It  is  so  little  that  you  could  put  a  million  in  your  pocket 
It  is  smaller  than  a  poppy  seed,  and  one  ounce  con 
tains,  it  is  said,  three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  seeds. 
They  are  so  small  that  they  have  to  be  mixed  with  ashes 
or  earth  before  planting,  in  order  that  they  may  not  be  too 
thickly  sown. 

The  planting  is  done  in  the  spring.  After  a  short  time 
the  little  green  sprouts  come  up,  looking  much  like  cab 
bage  plants.  They  are  now  taken  up  and  set  out  in  hills, 
four  thousand  plants  to  the  acre.  They  are  carefully  cul 
tivated  throughout  the  summer  and  are  harvested  in  the 
fall.  As  the  plants  ripen  the  leaves  become  yellow.  At 
this  time  the  tobacco  farmer  cuts  off  the  stalks  close  to 
the  earth  and  hangs  them  on  sticks  which  are  stuck  in  the 
ground.  In  some  places  he  strips  the  leaves  from  the 
stalks  and  strings  them  on  wires. 


Il6  THE   SOUTH 

The  leaves  must  be  dried  or  cured  before  they  can  be  sold. 
This  is  done  in  tobacco  barns  such  as  we  see  on  nearly  every 
little  farm  as  we  ride  through  the  tobacco  lands.  They  are 
usually  wooden  cabins  without  windows,  in  each  of  which  is 
a  heating  arrangement  consisting  of  a  stove  with  flues  or 
pipes  that  run  through  the  barn.  The  leaves  are  hung 
up  in  the  barn,  and  the  place  is  kept  as  hot  as  an  oven,  day 
and  night,  until  they  are  thoroughly  cured,  when  they  are 
tied  up  in  bundles  and  carried  to  market.  Much  of  the 
tobacco  is  sent  to  the  various  factories  of  the  United  States 
to  be  prepared  for  smoking  and  chewing,  and  for  making 
cigars  and  cigarettes. 


14.     IN    THE    LAND    OF   COTTON 

LEAVING  the  tobacco  lands,  we  move  on  farther  south, 
and  soon  find  ourselves  in  the  great  cotton  belt  of  the 
United  States.  This  begins  in  North  and  South  Carolina 
and  runs  down  through  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Oklahoma,  and  Texas.  There  is 
some  cotton  raised  in  other  places,  but  these  states  yield 
the  greater  part  of  the  crop,  Texas  producing  the  most. 


HOW   COTTON   GROWS  1 17 

Do  you  realize  how  important  the  cotton  crop  is  to  our 
country  ? 

It  is  so  great  that  if  all  the  gold  dug  from  the  mines  of 
the  earth  in  one  year  were  put  into  one  pile,  and  that  part 
of  this  crop  which  we  annually  send  to  Europe  were 
stacked  up  beside  it  in  another,  the  cotton  pile  would  be 
the  more  valuable. 

We  often  get  six  times  as  much  from  our  cotton 
as  from  our  gold  and  silver  mines.  We  raise  the  best 
cotton  of  the  world,  and  about  two  thirds  of  all  the  cotton 
worn  by  man  comes  from  the  wooly  fiber  of  our  plantations. 
There  are  yellow  people  in  Asia,  black  people  in  Africa, 
red  Indians  in  South  America,  and  white  people  in  Europe 
all  dressed  in  our  cottons,  and  every  one  of  us  wears  more 
or  less  of  them.  We  do  most  of  our  sewing  with  cotton 
thread.  Our  common  dresses  and  shirts  are  made  of  cot 
ton,  and  at  night  we  sleep  between  cotton  sheets. 

But  why  does  America  produce  so  much  more  cotton  than 
any  other  country  ? 

It  is  because  it  has  the  conditions  best  fitted  for  it. 
Cotton  requires  a  warm  climate  with  not  too  much  mois 
ture.  This  is  found  in  the  cotton  belt,  and  best  upon  the 
string  of  islands  which  lie  off  the  Atlantic  coast  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  Upon  these  islands  grows  what  is 
known  as  the  sea-island  cotton.  The  plants  there  are 
four  or  five  times  as  large  as  those  of  other  parts  of  our 
country.  The  ripe  cotton  shines  like  satin,  and  it  is  made 
up  of  fibers  which  are  longer  than  those  of  any  other  cotton. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  cotton  plantation  ? 

The  fields  when  ripening  form  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sights  of  the  world.  There  are  acres  of  plants,  about  as 
high  as  your  waist,  and  upon  them  white  bunches  which 
look  like  soft  balls  of  snow. 

CARP.    N.    A.  —  8 


nS 


THE    SOUTH 


We  pass  many  such  fields  in  our  travels.  They  line 
the  sides  of  the  railroads.  Some  are  dotted  with  people 
picking  the  cotton.  Negroes  and  whites  walk  through  the 
rows  and  pull  the  white  lint  from  the  stalks.  They  sing 
as  they  work,  and  their  rich,  soft  voices  float  into  the  car 
windows  as  we  ride  by. 

At  many  of  the  stations  there  are  huge  bales  of  cotton 
waiting  to  be  shipped  to  the  factories  of  New  England  or 


Picking  Cotton. 

to  other  parts  of  the  country.  Some  will  go  to  the  seaports, 
where  they  will  be  rebaled  and  exported  to  Europe. 
Every  little  farmhouse  we  pass  has  one  or  more  bales  in  its 
yard.  Upon  the  country  roads  we  see  wagons  filled  with 
what  in  the  distance  looks  like  newly  washed  wool.  It 
is  freshly  picked  cotton  on  its  way  to  the  gin,  where  the 
seeds  must  be  taken  out  before  it  can  be  sold. 

But  let  us  stop  and  visit  one  of  the  big  cotton  plantations 
of  South  Carolina.  There  is  a  field  which  is  not  yet  ripe. 
It  is  filled  with  green  bushes  as  high  as  our  waists,  upon 


("9) 


120 


THE   SOUTH 


which  are  the  bolls  containing  the  cotton.  The  largest 
bolls  are  of  about  the  size  of  a  walnut  with  the  hull  on  it. 
Farther  over  we  can  see  a  field  in  which  some  of  the  bolls 
are  cracking  open  ;  the  green  bushes  seem  dusted  with 
white.  Those  bolls  are  almost  ripe,  and  the  cotton  will 
soon  be  ready  for  picking. 

Look  farther  on.  There  is  a  spot  where  the  soil  must 
be  richer.  The  bolls  on  the  lower  branches  are  all  open, 
and  great  tufts  of  white,  as  large  as  pop-corn  balls,  hang 

out  as  if  ready  to  drop 
into  the  hands  of  the 
pickers.  The  bolls  on 
the  higher  branches 
are  still  closed. 

Let  us  go  into  that 
ripening  field  and  ex 
amine  the  cotton.  We 
pull  some  bunches  of 
white  from  the  bolls. 
They  come  out  so  easily 
that  they  almost  fall 
into  our  hands.  What 
are  the  hard  little 
things  we  feel  inside 
the  soft  white  lint? 
Let  us  pick  it  apart  and  see.  Those  are  the  cotton  seeds. 
They  are  as  big  as  the  seeds  of  a  lemon,  and  they  must  all 
be  removed  before  the  cotton  is  sold.  We  shall  see  how 
this  is  done  later  on. 

It  is  from  such  seeds  that  the  cotton  plants  grow.  We 
ask  the  farmer  .as  to  the  raising  of  the  crop,  and  he  tells  us 
that  his  seed  was  put  in  in  April,  in  rows  of  hills  about 
three  feet  apart.  He  says  the  sprouts  soon  came  through 


Cotton  Bales  Ready  for  Shipping. 


BALING   COTTON 


121 


the  soil,  and  by  the  middle  of  June  the  field  was  filled  with 
green  plants  upon  which  were  many  beautiful  flowers.  As 
the  blossoms  first  open  they  are  white ;  the  next  day  they 
turn  red,  and  when  in  full  bloom  look  like  beautiful  roses. 
They  soon  drop  off,  however,  and  the  bolls  of  cotton  ap 
pear.  The  bolls  do  not  crack  open  until-  they  are  ripe, 
and  then  only  the  white  fibers  show  out. 

From  what  we  have  seen  we  know  that  the  plants  do  not 
all  ripen  at  once,  and  for  this  reason  the  pickers  have  to  go 


Baling  Cotton- 

over  a  field  many  times.  In  Texas  and  other  parts  of  the 
far  South  the  picking  season  begins  in  July.  Farther  north 
it  is  later,  and  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  some  of  the 
cotton  is  often  still  on  the  stalks  at  Christmas. 

After  picking,  the  cotton  is  carried  to  the  gin.     There  is 


122 


THE   SOUTH 


a  wagonload  now.  Let  us  jump  in  and  go  along  with  it. 
The  negro  driver  is  good-natured,  and  he  laughs  loudly  as 
we  climb  into  the  load  of  the  fleecy  white  cotton.  At  the 
ginhouse  we  crawl  out,  covered  with  lint,  and  watch  the  men 
throw  the  cotton  into  the  top  of  a  machine  where  it  falls 
between  fine  circular  saws  so  arranged  that  the  seeds  can 

just  pass  between 
them.  The  lint  is 
caught  by  the  teeth 
of  the  saws,  while 
the  seeds  drop  below. 
Between  the  saws 
are  stiff  brushes 
which  pull  the  cot 
ton  from  the  saw 
teeth  and  roll  it  out 
in  a  beautiful,  fleecy 
sheet,  so  that  as  it 
drops  on  the  floor  at 
the  side  of  the  gin 
it  looks  like  a  drift 
of  snow. 

That  cotton  is  now 
ready  for  baling.  By 
this  is  meant  packing 
it  into  such  bundles 
as  will  take  up  the 
least  space  on  the 
cars  or  ships  upon 
which  it  is  to  be  carried  to  the  markets.  This  is  done  in 
huge  presses  which  so  squeeze  the  cotton  together  that  a 
great  quantity  of  it  is  pressed  into  a  bale  about  four  feet 
square  and  five  feet  in  length.  It  is  next  wrapped  with 


Baled  Cotton. 


COTTON    FACTORIES  123 

rough  cloth  much  like  coffee  sacking,  and  bound  with 
bands  of  hoop  iron.  The  ordinary  bale  weighs  from  four 
hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred  pounds.  It  is  worth 
from  forty  to  seventy  dollars  or  more,  its  price  varying  ac 
cording  to  the  amount  of  the  crop  in  different  parts  of 
the  world. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  cotton  seed  ? 

This  is  carefully  saved.  It  is  so  valuable  it  often  brings 
in  more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars  a  year.  A  few 
years  ago  it  was  supposed  to  be  worth  nothing,  and  was 
burned  or  thrown  away.  Now  it  is  used  for  making  oil 
and  other  things.  The  seeds  are  ground,  and  the  oil  is 
pressed  out.  The  crushed  seeds  are  used  for  making  an 
oil  cake,  which  is  valuable  for  feeding  cattle  and  other, 
stock.  The  hulls  of  the  seeds,  which  are  taken  off  before 
pressing,  are  also  used  for  feeding  and  as  a  fertilizer. 

Cotton-seed  oil  is  largely  employed  in  the  making  of  soap. 
Much  of  it  goes  into  patent  butters,  such  as  oleomargarine  ; 
and  a  great  deal,  when  purified,  is  used  for  cooking,  for 
salads,  and  for  other  things  instead  of  olive  oil.  It  is  said 
that  a  large  percentage  of  the  olive  oil  sold  in  the  United 
States  is  really  cotton-seed  oil.  Many  of  the  laborers  in 
the  oil  mills  do  not  butter  the  bread  which  they  take  with 
them  for  lunch,  but  use  the  oil  instead.  They  put  the  slices 
cut  from  the  loaf  under  the  press,  where  the  sweet,  warm, 
fresh  oil  is  trickling  out,  and  then  eat  them  with  relish. 

Let  us  follow  the  cotton  still  farther,  and  see  how  it  is 
made  into  cloth.  Until  within  recent  years  all  our  great 
cotton  mills  were  in  New  England.  We  saw  many  at  Low 
ell,  New  Bedford,  Fall  River,  Manchester,  Lawrence,  and 
other  cities  as  we  passed  through,  and  we  know  that  the 
most  of  our  cotton  cloth  is  still  made  there.  We  find,  how 
ever,  that  many  factories  are  now  being  built  in  the  South. 


124  THE   SOUTH 

There  are  large  mills  at  Charlotte  in  North  Carolina,  at 
Spartanburg,  Greenville,  and  Columbia  in  South  Carolina,  at 
Atlanta  and  Augusta  in  Georgia  and  at  many  other  places 
in  the  different  sections  of  the  cotton  belt.  The  cotton 
states  have  good  water  power,  and  the  plantations  are  so 
near  the  mills  that  they  can  make  cloth  very  cheaply. 

The  factory  we  visit  is  at  Spartanburg,  South  Carolina. 
It  is  in  a  brick  building  of  three  stories,  covering  several 
acres.  It  contains  many  large  rooms  filled  with  interesting 
machinery,  and  hundreds  of  white  men  and  women  are  at 
work  within  it.  The  cotton  is  taken  almost  directly  from 
the  gin  to  the  factory.  Suppose  we  follow  a  bale  as  it 
passes  through  one  room  after  another,  until  the  fleecy  white 
lint  is  turned  into  cloth. 

We  first  take  up  some  raw  cotton  out  of  the  bale  and  pull 
it  apart.  What  queer  stuff  it  is  !  It  is  composed  of  thou 
sands  of  little  white  hairs,  so  fine  that  several  of  them  twisted 
together  would  not  equal  the  thickness  of  a  hair  of  your 
head.  These  little  cotton  hairs  are  called  fibers.  They 
are  not  so  long  as  your  finger.  There  are  millions  of  them 
in  a  few  pounds  of  cotton,  and  in  our  big  bale  more  perhaps 
than  there  are  people  in  the  United  States.  Still,  of  these 
tiny  hairs  the  strongest  of  thread  and  cloth  are  to  be  made. 

Our  bale  is  first  taken  apart,  and  the  cotton  is  then  thrown 
upon  huge  cylinders  or  rollers  called  openers.  These  pull 
at  the  fibers,  separating  each  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
others.  After  this,  the  cotton  thus  loosened  is  passed 
through  other  rollers  the  sharp  teeth  of  which  pick  out  the 
fibers,  leaving  the  dirt,  so  that  when  the  cotton  comes  from 
them  not  a  stick,  a  leaf,  or  a  grain  of  sand  is  left  in  it.  It 
now  feels  soft  and  is  whiter  than  it  was  in  the  bale. 

The  next  process  is  carding.  Here  the  cotton  is  run 
through  rollers  covered  with  wire  teeth  so  fine  that  there 


COTTON   FACTORIES 


I25 


are  more  than  a  score  of  them  on  a  space  as  small  as  one's 
finger  nail.  These  little  teeth  brush  and  comb  the  cotton 
much  as  we  comb  our  hair.  As  the  cotton  passes  through 
them  they  pull  the  tangled  fibers  apart  and  make  them  lie 
almost  altogether  one  way,  so  that  when  they  come  out  at 


Making  Cotton  Threads. 

the  other  end  of  the  roller,  they  form  a  soft  rope  of  cotton 
yarn.     It  is  of  this  rope  that  the  thread  is  to  be  made. 

The  rope  is  as  big  around  as  a  broomstick.  It  seems 
enough  for  a  dozen  threads,  but  it  is  not  enough  to  make 
one.  It  is  as  soft  as  down.  It  is  doubled  again  and  again 
as  it  goes  through  other  machines  which  twist  it  finer 
and  finer  until  at  last  'it  is  not  thicker  than  a  fishing 
line.  It  is  still  soft,  however.  Another  strand  of  the 
same  size  twisted  in  the  same  way  from  another  cotton 


126 


THE   SOUTH 


rope,  is  now  joined  with  it,  and  the  two  are  twisted  and  re- 
twisted  by  machinery  until  they  are  as  small  as  the  finest 
cotton  thread  used  for  sewing.  This  is  the  thread  out  of 
which  the  cloth  is  to  be  woven. 

As  the  thread  comes  from  the  machines  some  of  it  is 
rolled  upon  long  spools,  called  spindles,  by  what  is  known 
as  the  mule  spinner.  This  takes  the  place  of  the  old 


Mule  Spinner. 

spinning  wheel,  save  that  it  winds  hundreds  of  spools  at 
a  time,  one  machine  often  doing  as  much  work,  perhaps, 
as  in  colonial  days  a  thousand  women  could  do.  Some 
threads  are  wound  upon  rollers  or  beams  of  the  width  of  the 
cloth  to  be  made.  These  threads  are  the  warp  ;  they  run 
lengthwise  in  the  cloth. 

The  cross  threads,  or  what  is  known  as  the  woof  or  filling, 
are  first  wound  upon  small  bobbins,  and  are  then  thrown 


COTTON   FACTORIES  127 

from  one  side  of  the  cloth  to  the  other  in  the  shuttle,  which 
carries  the  thread  back  and  forth  through  the  warp  threads 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  times  or  more  a  minute. 
This  is  called  weaving.  The  machines  with  which  the  weav 
ing  is  done  are  the  looms.  The  machinery  in  the  weaving 
rooms  makes  a  great  din,  and  the  looms  work  so  fast  that 
thousands  of  yards  of  cloth  are  woven  in  one  factory  in  a 
day. 

We  shall  visit  other  mills  as  we  go  on  with  our 
journey ;  and  at  every  large  port  we  shall  see  ships  taking 
on  cotton  for  the  factories  of  New  England  and  Europe  as 
well  as  for  those  of  China,  Japan,  India,  and  South  America. 
The  latter  countries  all  raise  more  or  less  cotton,  but  they 
also  use  our  cotton  with  theirs,  as  the  mixture  makes  better 
cloths  of  some  kinds.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  our  crop 
goes  abroad,  the  exports  of  raw  cotton  bringing  in  hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars  a  year.  Our  best  customer  is  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  which  is 
the  chief  cotton-weaving  country  of  Europe,  and  after  it 
come  Germany  and  France.  There  are  also  large  weaving 
mills  in  Holland,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Austria,  and  Russia. 

All  of  the  foreign  factories  pay  us  money  for  the  cotton 
they  buy,  and  part  of  that  money  goes  to  the  boys  and  girls 
on  our  southern  plantations  as  wages.  In  those  factories 
tens  of  thousands  of  foreign  boys  and  girls  are  kept  busy 
spinning  and  weaving,  and  from  the  cloths  they  have  made 
comes  the  money  paid  us  ;  so  you  see  they  are  working  for 
us.  And  as  they  must  have  our  cotton  to  carry  on  their 
business,  we  are  working  for  them.  Moreover,  this  is  also 
true  of  the  little  black,  brown,  yellow,  and  white  children  of 
other  parts  of  the  earth  who  buy  cloth  made  from  our  cotton 
at  home  and  abroad,  so  that  the  whole  world  really  seems 
to  be  tied  together  with  these  cotton  threads.  Indeed,  the 


128 


THE   SOUTH 


human  race  by  industry  and  commerce  becomes  more 
and  more  every  day  like  a  family,  each  member  of  which 
is  always  helping  the  others  and  being  helped  by  them. 


15.     AMONG  THE  RICE  FIELDS 

WE  see  more  and  more  cotton  as  we  go  farther  south 
into  Georgia.     There  are  cornfields  here  and  there. 
We  visit  great  peach  orchards,  and  ride  through  sections 
where  they  are  raising  watermelons  for  the  markets  of  the 


•.. 


Ox  Carts. 


North.  There  are  more  colored  people  here  than  in  Vir 
ginia.  We  see  scores  of  them  at  the  stations  or  in  the  fields 
at  work ;  they  also  stand  in  the  doors  of  their  little  cabins, 
watching  our  train  as  we  go  whizzing  by. 


THE    RICE    FIELDS 


I2Q 


How  many  mules  there  are !  In  some  sections  of  the 
southern  states  there  are  more  mules  than  horses.  Now 
and  then  we  see  a  negro  driving  an  ox  hitched  with  rope 
harness  to  a  rude,  old-fashioned  cart. 

The  towns  we  pass  are  not  so  large  as  those  of  New 
England,  but  buildings  are   springing  up 
about  many  of  them,  and  near  each  of  the 
cotton  mills  is  a  little  colony  of  new  houses. 

We  find  Atlanta  to  be  one  of  the  beau 
tiful  and  thriving  cities  of  our  southern 
section.  It  is  a  great  business  and  manu 
facturing  center.  It  is  situated  so  high 
above  the  sea  that  it  has  a  delightful  cli 
mate  in  the  summer,  and  so  far  south  that 
its  winters  are  not  cold.  We  spend  some 
time  in  the  state  capitol,  take  a  stroll  under 
the  old  forest  trees  along  Peachtree  Street, 
upon  which  are  the  finest  residences;  and 
then  go  by  the  electric  cars  to  see  the  battle 
fields  where  terrible  fighting  was  done  dur 
ing  the  Civil  War. 

Atlanta  has  railroads  branching  out  in  every  direction, 
and  we  take  a  train  which  carries  us  eastward  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  Here  we  visit  the  islands  off  the  coast  where  the 
fine  sea-island  cotton  is  raised  ;  and  along  the  lowlands 
bordering  the  Atlantic  travel  through  a  country  dotted  with 
fields  of  rice.  The  rice  is  now  almost  ready  for  cutting. 
It  is  of  a  bright  yellow  color,  and  at  first  sight  makes  us  think 
of  wheat  or  oats.  As  we  come  nearer  we  see  that  its  straw 
is  different  from  wheat  straw,  and  that  the  little  grains  upon 
it  are  not  at  all  like  any  grains  raised  in  the  North. 

We  can  see  water  shining  out  at  the  roots  of  the  plants, 
and  are  told  that  a  great  deal  of  moisture  is  needed  to 


Rice. 


130  THE   SOUTH 

develop  the  crop.  The  best  rice  is  raised  where  the  ground 
can  be  frequently  flooded  with  fresh  water.  The  plants 
must  also  have  the  hot  sun,  and  hence  we  find  the  best  rice- 
raising  lands  of  the  United  States  along  the  lower  parts  of 
our  warm  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  and  in  the  hot, 
moist  country  near  the  lower  Mississippi  River.  Texas, 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  South  Carolina  produce  the  most 
of  the  rice  raised  in  the  United  States,  and  the  chief  rice- 
shipping  ports  are  New  Orleans  and  Charleston. 

Let  us  visit  one  of  the  rice  plantations  near  Charleston, 
South  Carolina.  We  shall  learn  that  raising  rice  is  not  at 
all  easy.  The  fields  have  little  banks  about  their  edges,  so 
that  the  water,  when  let  in  upon  them,  will  stay  there, 
forming  a  pond  covering  the  whole  field.  The  plants  are 
grown  in  the  mud.  The  beds  are  flooded,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  sprouts,  poke  their  little  green  heads  up  through 
the  water.  After  this  the  water  is  drawn  off  until  the 
stalk  forms  a  joint.  The  soil  is  then  plowed  and  hoed. 
Water  is  again  turned  in,  and  is  allowed"  to  remain  until 
the  straw  turns  yellow,  when  the  rice  is  ripe  and  ready  for 
cutting. 

The  harvesting  of  rice  is  much  like  that  of  wheat  and 
oats.  The  straw  is  cut  and  shocked  up  in  the  fields,  and 
after  a  short  time  threshed  to  get  the  grain  out.  When 
the  threshing  is  done,  the  process  of  preparing  the  rice  for 
the  market  has  only  begun.  Each  little  grain  has  a  hull 
on  it,  which  does  not  come  off  in  the  threshing.  These 
hulls  stick  as  tight  as  though  they  were  glued.  Before 
the  rice  can  be  sold,  they  must  be  removed.  This  is  done 
by  running  the  grains  through  hulling  machines.  As  the 
rice  comes  out  of  the  machines  it  is  rough,  and  other  ma 
chines  are  used,  by  which  each  grain  is  rubbed  and  pol 
ished  until  it  is  smooth  and  glossy. 


THE    RICE   FIELDS  131 

Some  rice  is  raised  on  the  higher  lands  without  water. 
This  is  known  as  upland  rice.  It  is  grown  in  almost  the 
same  way  as  wheat  and  oats  in  the  North. 

The  greatest  rice  fields  of  the  world  are  in  Asia,  where 
the  rice  is  raised  in  flooded  fields.  In  some  parts  of  that 
continent  so  many  people  eat  rice  that  it  takes  the  place 


A  Rice  Field. 

that  bread  has  with  us ;  it  is  said  that  one  fourth  of  all 
of  the  people  of  the  world  live  upon  rice. 

Have  you  ever  heard  how  rice  first  came  to  America? 
There  were  no  such  plants  here  until  about  two  hundred 
years  after  Columbus  discovered  this  continent.  Take 
your  map  of  Africa,  and  find  the  island  of  Madagascar, 
which  lies  off  its  east  coast.  It  was  from  that  island  in 
1694  that  a  ship  started  out,  and  after  a  long  voyage  came 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  was  driven  by  a  storm  into 


132 


THE   SOUTH 


the  port  of  Charleston.  The  captain  of  the  steamer  had  a 
sack  of  rough  rice  with  him ;  and  upon  leaving  he  gave 
it  to  one  of  the  citizens,  who  planted  the  grain  in  a 
low  place  in  his  garden.  A  big  crop  was  the  result. 
This  man  gave  some  of  the  seeds  to  his  friends,  and  within 
a  short  time  rice  became  one  of  the  chief  products  of  this 
part  of  the  United  States.  We  are  now  raising  all  the 


A  Street  in  Charleston, 

rice  that  we  eat  and  the  crop  amounts  to  many  millions 
of  dollars  a  year. 

We  see  bags  of  rice  ready  for  shipment  on  the  wharves 
of  the  Charleston  harbor.  There  are  also  steamers  loading 
cotton  for  Europe,  and  other  ships  are  being  filled  with  a 
sort  of  phosphate  rock  dug  from  the  ground  near  here, 
which  is  of  great  value  for  fertilizing. 

Charleston  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  cities  of  the 
South.  It  is  built  on  a  peninsula  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Ashley  and  Cooper  rivers.  It  is  laid  out  in  square  blocks, 
the  cross  streets  extending  from  river  to  river,  and  the 


CHARLESTON  133 

other  streets  cutting  them  at  right  angles.  Charleston  is 
an  old  city;  it  was  founded  only  sixty  years  after  the 
Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth;  and  it  has  always  been  noted 
as  an  important  commercial  point.  Many  of  its  streets 
are  wide,  and  some  are  lined  with  large  houses,  at  the  sides 
of  which  are  broad  lawns  and  gardens.  These  old  man 
sions  have,  in  front  and  at  the  sides,  big  pillars  which 
support  porches  or  galleries,  forming  cool  places  during 
the  hot  summers.  Back  of  some  of  them  we  can  still 
see  the  quarters  and  cabins  which  were  occupied  by  the 
negroes  in  slave  times;  and  as  we  observe  the  many  col 
ored  people  on  the  streets  we  are  reminded  that  South 
Carolina  has  a  large  number  of  this  race  among  its  inhabit 
ants. 

After  a  walk  along  Meeting  Street,  we  visit  Citadel 
Square  and  ride  out  on  the  cars  to  the  Magnolia  Cemetery 
to  see  the  live  oaks  draped  with  Spanish  moss  and  the 
many  beautiful  -flowers.  Upon  our  return  we  take  a  stroll 
along  the  Battery,  facing  the  sea,  and  then  get  on  board  the 


Fort  Sumter. 

little  steamer  which  goes  several  times  a  day  to  the  most 
interesting  points  in  the  harbor.  We  visit  Fort  Sumter, 
where  the  first  shot  was  fired  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  fort  is  on  a  little  island  at  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor  not  far  from  the  shore.  The  island  is  made  of 

CARP.    N.    A.  —  9 


134  THE   SOUTH 

rocks.  It  is  surrounded  by  brick  walls  about  forty  feet 
high  and  eight  feet  thick.  Grass-covered  earthworks  are 
still  to  be  seen  on  some  parts  of  the  wall. 


16.     A   VISIT   TO   A   TURPENTINE   FARM 

LEAVING  Charleston,  a  few  hours'  ride  by  rail  to  the 
southward  brings  us  to  Savannah,  a  thriving  seaport 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.     Savannah  is  fa 
mous  for  its  cotton  presses  and  rice  mills,  aud  especially 


On  the  Wharves  at  Savannah. 


as  the  chief  port  of  the  world  in  its  shipment  of  turpen 
tine  and  rosin.  At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  its  wharves 
are  covered  with  barrels  of  such  materials,  awaiting  ship 
ment  to  Europe.  Large  quantities  are  also  being  loaded 
upon  cars  and  steamers  for  every  part  of  the  United 
States. 


TURPENTINE   FARMING  135 

Turpentine  and  rosin  are  made  from  the  sap  of  the 
long-leafed  pine  tree.  Turpentine  is  a  transparent  liquid 
used  in  making  varnish  and  paint.  Rosin  waxes  the  bows 
of  violins  ;  it  is  also  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  soap, 
and  is  especially  valuable  for  varnish.  Our  own  furni 
ture  is  probably  coated  with  the  juice  of  the  pine  trees 
of  the  forests  of  Georgia  or  the  Carolinas,  and  from  the 
same  source  comes  the  turpentine  used  in  mixing  the  paint 
on  our  houses. 

The  process  of  getting  out  turpentine  and  rosin  is 
known  as  turpentine  farming.  A  turpentine  farm  is  a 
forest  of  long-leaf  pine  trees,  each  of  which  has  been  so 
cut  and  scarred  that  the  sap  oozes  out  and  may  be  col 
lected  for  making  turpentine.  There  are  farms  of  this 
kind  all  along  our  South  Atlantic  coast  from  North  Caro 
lina  to  Florida,  and  farther  inland  near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  Louisiana. 

For  many  years  the  most  of  our  turpentine  came  from 
North  Carolina;  but  turpentine  farming  soon  kills  the 
trees,  and  the  pine  trees  there  are  almost  used  up.  The 
best  turpentine  farms  are  now  farther  south.  There  are 
hundreds  about  the  cities  of  Savannah  and  Brunswick, 
and  we  shall  see  them  in  Alabama,  Louisiana,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Gulf  states. 

Each  farm  consists  of  thousands  of  pine  trees.  The 
trees  are  not  large  around,  but  they  are  perfectly  straight, 
and  so  tall  that  they  sometimes  reach  to  the  height  of  an 
eight-story  house  before  their  branches  begin. 

There  is  but  little  underbrush,  and  we  can  easily  walk 
through  the  woods.  Every  pine  tree  has  one  or  two 
scarred  places  upon  it  where  the  bark  and  wood  have  been 
chopped  off.  These  places  begin  at  the  foot  of  the  tree 
and  extend  upward  two  or  three  feet.  As  we  look,  we  see 


136 


THE    SOUTH 


that  a  hole  or  box  has  been  cut  in  the  tree  at  the  foot  of 
each  scarred  place,  and  that  the  white  sap  is  oozing  from 
the  wood  and  running  down  into  the  box. 

The  size  of  a  turpentine  farm  is  known  by  the  number 

of  boxes.     Ten  thousand  five  hundred  boxes  make  what  is 

called  a  crop.     There  are   farms  which  have   millions  of 

boxes,  and  in  which,  during  the  fall  and  winter,  hundreds 

_          __  of   negroes  are  kept  busy 

scarring  the  trees  and  get 
ting  the  sap.  The  men 
labor  in  gangs,  under  an 
overseer.  Two  men  work 
together,  taking  a  tree  at 
a  time.  One  man  stands 
on  each  side  of  the  tree, 
with  an  ax  in  his  hand,  and 
they  chop  in  turns.  For 
this  reason,  whenever  it  is 
possible,  a  right-handed 
man  and  a  left-handed 
man  work  together. 

The  gathering  of  the  sap 
begins  as  soon  as  it  moves  in  the  spring.  At  this  time 
it  oozes  out  in  thick  white  drops  on  the  cut  places  and  falls 
down  into  the  boxes.  It  soon  hardens,  forming  a  gum 
about  as  thick  as  molasses. 

Every  few  days  the  boxes  fill  up,  and  the  men  come 
along  and  scoop  out  the  liquid.  Each  has  a  keg  with  him, 
and  he  empties  the  sap  into  it  as  he  goes  from  tree  to  tree. 
When  his  keg  is  full  he  carries  it  to  a  barrel,  in  which  it  is 
taken  to  the  turpentine  distillery. 

During  the  summer  the  trees  must  be  cut  again  and 
again  to  keep  the  wounds  fresh.  Such  drops  of  the  sap 


Scarring  the  Trees. 


TURPENTINE    FARMING  137 

as  harden  on  the  trees  are  scraped  down  into  the  boxes. 
The  next  year  a  place  is  cut  a  little  higher  up  on  the  tree 
to  furnish  sap  for  that  season,  but  the  yield  of  the  second 
year  is  not  so  good  as  that  of  the  first.  The  sap  grows 
darker  from  year  to  year,  and  after  five  or  six  years  it  be 
comes  so  dark  that  it  is  not  valuable,  and  the  tree  is  ready 
to  die. 

But  let  us  follow  the  barrel  which  we  have  seen  filled  with 
the  sap,  and  learn  how  it  is  turned  into  rosin  and  turpen- 


A  Turpentine  Distillery. 

tine.  As  it  oozes  out  the  sap  is  of  a  waxy,  gummy  nature, 
and  the  question  is  how  to  get  the  turpentine  out.  It 
will  take  eight  barrels  of  sap  to  make  two  barrels  of  tur 
pentine,  and  what  remains  will  be  rosin.  This  is  the  work 
of  the  turpentine  distillery. 

We  can  tell  we  are  nearing  the  distillery  long  before 
we  get  there  by  the  aromatic  smell  of  the  rosin.  It  makes 
us  think  of  the  sealing  room  in  a  canning  factory,  for  rosin 
is  used  in  soldering  the  cans.  It  grows  stronger  as  we 


138  THE   SOUTH 

approach  the  big  shed  of  the  distillery,  and  we  now  per 
ceive  that  it  comes  from  the  gum  or  hardened  sap  which  is 
boiling  to  get  out  the  turpentine. 

We  stay  a  few  moments  to  see  how  this  is  done.  The 
gum  is  first  mixed  with  water,  and  then  put  into  a  great 
kettle  set  in  a  brick  furnace  in  which  hot  fires  are  kept. 
As  it  melts,  the  turpentine  rises  in  a  vapor  and  goes  off 
into  pipes  kept  cold  by  streams  of  spring  water  which  flow 
over  them.  As  the  vapor  touches  the  cold  pipe  it  con 
denses,  turns  to  a  liquid  again,  and  at  the  end  flows  out  in 
a  stream  of  pure,  transparent  turpentine.  It  is  now  run  into 
barrels,  and  shipped  to  the  markets.  The  rosin  which  has 
been  left  in  the  kettle  by  the  boiling  has  become  thick.  It 
is  also  put  into  barrels,  where  it  soon  hardens,  and  is  then 
ready  for  sale. 

We  are  now  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  great  pine  forest 
belt  which  runs  from  North  Carolina  parallel  with  the  coasts 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  eastern  Texas. 
This  belt  is  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  more 
miles  wide,  and  it  contains  many  millions  of  acres  of  valu 
able  timber.  At  every  few  miles  along  the  railroads,  which 
have  been  cut  through  it,  are  sawmills  where  the  trees  are 
being  made  into  boards  ;  and  upon  the  tracks  are  long  trains 
of  lumber  of  various  kinds  starting  out  to  the  cities  of  our 
eastern  and  central  states. 

The  pine  trees  grow  on  the  thin,  sandy  soil  of  these  re 
gions  where  the  hard  woods  will  not  thrive.  The  latter  are 
found  only  in  the  valleys  and  at  the  north  higher  up  in  the 
mountains  behind  the  pine  belt,  with  gum  and  cypress  trees 
in  the  swamps. 

The  pines  are  of  several  well-known  varieties.  The  long- 
leaf  or  Georgia  yellow  pine  is  very  valuable.  It  is  used 
largely  for  floors  and  for  the  inside  woodwork  of  houses, 


FLORIDA 


:39 


and  the  same  is  true  of  the  better  grades  of  some  of  the 
other  varieties  of  pines,  such  as  the  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia  pines,  and  of  the  Cuban  pines.  We  are  told,  how 
ever,  that  lumber  is  growing  so  scarce  that  trees  of  almost 
every  description  are  now  being  cut,  and  as  we  see  the  vast 
quantities  shipped,  we  wonder  whether  in  time  our  woods 
will  not  all  disappear. 

In  our  travels  the  railroads  carry  us  for  miles  through  the 
swamps,  of  which  there  are  many  throughout  the  south. 
Some  of  them  are  so  large  that  they  have  never  been 
explored.  The  Okefmokee  Swamp  in  Georgia  has  regions 
as  dense  as  the  jungles  of  tropical  countries,  and  quagmires 
in  which  a  horse  or  a  man  might  sink  out  of  sight.  The 
swamps  of  Georgia  and  Florida  contain  all  sorts  of  snakes, 
and  in  some  of  them  alligators  by  the  hundreds  crawl 
through  the  muddy  waters. 


17.     FLORIDA    AND    ITS    ORANGE    GROVES 

THE  Florida  peninsula  forms  the  southeastern  end  of 
our  country.     It   lies   nearer   the   equator  than   any 
other  part  of  the  Union  except  southwestern  Texas,  and 
this,  added  to  the  warm  winds  from  the  Gulf  Stream  which 


140  THE    SOUTH 

washes  its  southern  and  eastern  shores,  gives  it  a  semitropi- 
cal  climate.  It  is  a  land  of  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  of 
many  beautiful  trees  and  flowers.  The  word  "  Florida"  means 
"  Flowery,"  and  we  learn  that  the  name  was  given  it  by 
Ponce  de  Leon,  its  discoverer,  who  landed  at  St.  Augustine 
on  Easter  day  in  the  year  1512,  only  twenty  years  after 
Columbus  first  came  to  America.  De  Leon  was  looking 
for  the  fountain  of  perpetual  youth,  and  he  thought  the 
land  so  beautiful  it  must  surely  contain  it.  He  wrote  about 
his  new  country  as  the  "  Island  of  Florida,"  and  established 
a  settlement  at  St.  Augustine,  the  first  white  colony  on  the 
North  American  continent. 

Florida  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  for  more 
than  two  centuries.  For  a  while  it  came  into  the  posses 
sion  of  both  France  and  England ;  but  it  was  returned  to 
Spain,  and  by  our  treaty  with  that  country  in  1819,  was 
made  a  part  of  the  United  States.  This  was  at  about  the 
time  that  General  Andrew  Jackson,  who  afterwards  became 
President,  was  fighting  the  Seminole  Indians,  and  he  had 
much  to  do  with  our  getting  the  peninsula.  So  in  1822, 
when  it  was  made  a  territory,  he  was  appointed  its  first 
governor;  and  its  capital,  the  city  of  Jacksonville,  was 
named  after  him. 

Florida  is  one  of  the  low  lands  of  our  country.  Nowhere 
in  it  is  there  a  hill  as  high  as  the  Washington  Monument. 
The  Everglades  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state  are  almost 
all  swamp,  and  may  be  described  as  a  huge  shallow  lake  of 
about  the  size  of  Massachusetts,  filled  with  low,  marshy 
islands  and  abounding  in  fish  and  wild  birds  of  many  kinds. 

The  soil  of  this  state  is  largely  composed  of  material  from 
the  sea  floor.  Much  of  it  is  sandy,  with  coarse  rock  under 
neath,  the  latter  made  by  the  millions  of  coral  polyps  which 
live  in  the  warm  waters  about  its  coast.  This  is  especially 


THE    KEY   WEST    RAILROAD  141 

true  of  the  southern  part  of  the  peninsula  where  the  land 
drops  out  of  sight,  a  little  coral  island  poking  its  head  up 
through  the  water  here  and  there,  forming'the  Florida  Keys, 
which  end  in  Key  West. 

Key  West  is  a  habitable  island  with  a  well-fortified  har 
bor.  It  is  not  far  from  Cuba,  and  many  of  its  people  are 
engaged  in  making  cigars,  the  tobacco  being  brought  from 
the  port  of  Havana,  which  is  only  a  few  hours  away.  They 
also  catch  turtles,  and  some  are  employed  in  taking  out 
the  sponges  found  in  the  waters  near  by. 

The  climate  of  this  region  is  delightful.  In  the  summer 
the  heat  is  tempered  by  the  breezes  from  its  long  seacoast, 
and  in  the  winter  it  is  warm  when  our  northern  states  are 
covered  with  snow.  This  has  caused  many  invalids  to  move 
to  Florida  to  live,  and  thousands  of  our  northern  people  go 
there  to  escape  the  cold  of  the  winter.  Therefore  we  find 
that  railroads  have  been  constructed  to  take  care  of  the 
visitors ;  and  had  we  time  we  might  ride  on  the  cars  along 
the  whole  eastern  coast  of  Florida  and  finally  out  over  the 
coral  islands  at  its  southern  end  to  Key  West,  where  we 
should  be  within  only  about  ninety  miles  by  water,  or  a 
few  hours  by  steamer,  of  Havana,  in  Cuba. 

Upon  the  latter  part  of  this  trip  we  should  be  carried  for 
miles  upon  a  railroad  over  the  sea.  The  Florida  Keys  may 
be  called  a  series  of  stepping  stones  leading  into  the  ocean. 
They  extend  in  a  curve  from  the  end  of  the  peninsula  to 
Key  West,  the  channel  separating  the  islands  varying  in 
width  from  a  few  hundred  feet  to  several  miles.  The  water 
between  them  is  not  deep,  and  great  concrete  bridges  or 
viaducts  have  been  built  up  so  that  there  is  now  a  sea-going 
railroad  clear  to  Key  West,  of  which  about  seventy-five  miles 
seems  to  rest,  as  it  were,  upon  the  water. 

We  have  an  excellent  train  from  Savannah  to  Jackson- 


(142) 


FLORIDA  143 

ville,  the  largest  city  and  chief  seaport  of  the  state.  It  lies 
on  the  St.  Johns  River,  which  connects  it  with  the  Atlantic. 
We  see  large  ocean  ships  at  the  wharves  and  also  side-wheel 
river  boats,  upon  which  one  can  travel  up  the  St.  Johns  into 
the  heart  of  the  country. 

After  leaving  Jacksonville,  we  steam  for  a  long  distance 
through  what  seems  a  great  lake.  The  St.  Johns  has  been 
called  a  miniature  Amazon,  and  we  see  why  as  we  go.  The 
river  which  rises  in  the  Everglades  and  flows  north  almost 


Live  Oaks  and  Spanish  Moss. 

parallel  with  the  ocean  is  often  a  mile  and  more  wide.  We 
sail  a  long  distance  before  it  grows  narrower,  and  we  then 
pass  through  forests  of  palmettos,  live  oaks,  and  cypresses, 
the  branches  of  which  are  loaded  with  Spanish  moss.  This 
moss  looks  like  frosted  silver.  It  is  a  sort  of  air  plant  which 


144 


THE    SOUTH 


crawls  over  the  trees,  hanging  down  from  the  limbs,  and  in 
some  places  almost  reaches  the  water.  Much  of  the  earth 
along  the  banks  is  sandy.  We  miss  the  green  turf  of 
other  parts  of  our  country ;  and  although  our  surround 
ings  are  beautiful,  we  long  for  the  velvety  grass  of  the 
North. 

We  find,  however,  that  every  part  of  the  world  has  its 
own  beauties.  The  wild  flowers  of  Florida  comprise  many 
that  are  grown  in  northern  hothouses, 
and  there  are  hundreds  of  tropical 
plants  not  found  in  the  other  parts 
of  our  country.  In  some  places  we 
go  through  jungles  so  dense  that  we 
imagine  ourselves  in  the  hot  lands  of 
Africa.  The  air  is  soft  and  balmy  in 
the  evenings  and  mornings,  but  at 
midday,  even  on  the  river,  the  sun  is 
so  hot  that  we  have  to  keep  under 
cover. 

We  see  curious  birds  on  our  voyage. 
Herons  and  buzzards  fly  about  over 
head  ;  and  long-legged  cranes  and 
big-throated  pelicans  stand  in  the  mud  on  the  edge  of  the 
river.  Now  and  then  an  alligator  scrambles  down  the 
muddy  banks  as  it  hears  the  noise  of  the  boat. 

The  streams  which  flow  into  the  St.  Johns  furnish  excel 
lent  fishing.  Florida  is  one  of  our  best  fishing  grounds. 
It  is  the  home  of  the  delicious  red  snapper;  and  of  the  tar 
pon,  our  biggest  fish  that  can  be  caught  with  a  hook.  Many 
a  tarpon,  if  stood  upon  its  tail,  would  be  as  tall  as  a  man  ; 
and  some  have  been  caught  which  weighed  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  Tarpon  fishing  requires  a  strong 
line.  The  sportsman  often  has  to  fight  with  the  fish  for 


A  Pelican. 


GRANGE  ORCHARDS 


hours ;  he  lets  it  run  with  the  hook  this  way  and  that  until 
it  is  tired  out  and  can  at  last  be  dragged  to  the  boat. 

As  we  travel  up  the  St.  Johns  we  pass  many  little  farms 
and  orchards,  and  learn  that  this  region  is  the  chief  winter 
fruit  and  market  garden  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  the 

north.     It  raises  mil-     

lions  of  watermelons 
and  muskmelons, 
vast  quantities  of 
early  tomatoes,  and 
about  two  million 
bushels  of  sweet  po 
tatoes  a  year.  It 
produces  guavas, 
olives,  and  Japanese 
persimmons  and 
plums,  as  well  as 
limes,  lemons,  and 
grapefruit,  while 
its  two  leading  fruit 
crops  are  oranges 
and  pineapples. 

We  have  to  go 
some  distance  south 
before  we  reach  the 
best  orange-growing  districts.  There  are  oranges  in  all 
parts  of  the  state,  but  the  fruit  is  liable  to  be  spoiled  by 
the  frost.  There  are  some  excellent  groves  on  the  Indian 
River. 

We  have  no  trouble  in  getting  a  permit  to  visit  the 
orchards.  Oranges  are  as  common  in  Florida  as  apples 
are  in  New  England,  and  we  are  asked  to  go  in  among  the 
trees  and  pick  all  we  can  eat. 


Florida  is  one  of  our  best  fishing  grounds." 


146 


THE   SOUTH 


How  delicious  the  fruit  tastes  when  fresh  picked.  The 
oranges  are  more  juicy  than  any  we  can  buy  in  the  stores. 
How  full  the  trees  are  !  Some  are  so  loaded  that  the 
golden  balls  shine  out  everywhere  through  the  emerald- 
green  leaves.  It  is  said  that  there  are  single  trees  in 


An  Orange  Orchard. 

Florida  which  bear  as  many  as  five  thousand  oranges  a 
year. 

We  ask  the  owner  of  one  of  the  groves  how  the  orange 
trees  are  grown.  He  replies  that  it  takes  from  five  to  ten 
years  after  planting  for  a  tree  to  come  into  bearing,  and  adds 
that  there  are  trees  which  have  been  known  to  produce 
fruit  when  they  were  more  than  one  hundred  years  old. 

The  orange  crop  is  an  important  one.  Hundreds  of 
millions  of  this  fruit  are  eaten  in  the  United  States  every 
year.  We  import  some  from  Sicily,  an  island  in  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  and  also  from  the  West  Indies  ;  but 


GRAPEFRUIT 


T47 


our  best  oranges  come  from  this  region,  and  from  California, 
on  the  other  side  of  our  country. 


"  We  pick  grapefruit,  which  we  eat  sweetened  with  sugar." 

In  this  same  region  we  quench  our  thirst  with  lemonade 
made  from  fruit  fresh  from  the  groves,  and  pick  grape- 


I48 


THE  SOUTH 


fruit,  which  we  eat  sweetened  with  sugar.  The  lemons 
and  grapefruit  grow  much  like  oranges ;  the  latter  are 
often  twice  as  large  as  the  largest  orange.  They  are  of  a 
pale  lemon  color,  and  are  beautiful  as  they  hang  on  the  tree. 
In  southern  Florida  we  see  great  fields  of  pineapples 
and  coconut  groves.  The  coconut  is  a  species  of  the 


A  Pineapple  Field. 

palm.  It  begins  to  bear  at  from  nine  to  twelve  years,  and 
a  good  tree  will  have  at  one  time  as  many  as  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  coconuts  on  it.  Pineapples  grow  upon  the 
ground  not  unlike  cabbages.  They  are  planted  during  the 
months  of  July,  August,  and  September  by  means  of  slips 
and  suckers  which  grow  on  the  old  plants.  The  land  is 
well  plowed,  and  the  slips  are  set  out  at  about  twenty 
inches  apart  so  that  ten  thousand  or  more  can  be  grown 
on  an  acre.  They  are  carefully  cultivated,  and  at  the  end 


THE   MISSISSIPPI   JETTIES  149 

of  twenty  months  are  ready  for  the  markets.  They  are 
often  picked  green  and  allowed  to  ripen  during  the  ship 
ping.  We  are  given  some  ripe  from  the  field,  and  find 
them  far  more  delicious  than  any  we  have  tasted  before. 

Most  of  southern  Florida  is  wild.  One  can  ride  for 
hundreds  of  miles  in  boats  through  the  swamps,  and  he 
will  find  there  bears,  wildcats,  and  deer.  If  we  should 
take  a  swim  in  the  water,  we  must  look  out  for  alligators, 
and  we  shall  hardly  be  safe,  in  some  parts  of  the  Ever 
glades,  without  guns  in  our  hands. 


18.    THROUGH    THE    MISSISSIPPI    JETTIES    TO 
NEW    ORLEANS 

IT  is  at  Tampa,  on  the  west  coast  of  Florida,  that  we  get  a 
ship  that  will  take  us  Across  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  does 
not  look  large  on  the  map,  but  in  places  its  eastern  and 
western  shores  are  farther  apart  than  New  York  and 
Chicago.  Our  best  route  will  be  to  go  first  to  Mobile,  the 
chief  seaport  of  Alabama,  and  thence  by  a  short  steamer 
ride  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  up  to  New  Orleans. 
We  enter  the  Mississippi  River  through  that  one  of  its 
mouths  known  as  the  South  Pass.  The  Mississippi  has 
several  mouths  through  which  it  flows  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  land  here  has  been  built  up  during  the  ages 
by  the  mud  or  silt  of  the  uplands  carried  down  by  the  river. 
The  waters  of  the  Mississippi  are  loaded  with  mud,  and  they 
discolor  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  far  out  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  It  is  said  they  bring  enough  silt  into  the  Gulf  every 

CARP.    N.  A.  —  IO. 


150  THE    SOUTH 

year  to  make  an  island  a  mile  square  and  several  hundred 
feet  high. 

You  might  think  so  much  mud  would  stop  up  the  river. 
So  it  would  were  the  current  not  strong  enough  to  carry  it 
out  into  the  Gulf.  As  it  is,  the  mud  has  built  up  great 
bars  not  far  from  the  mouths  of  the  river,  over  which  ships 
cannot  easily  pass. 

Our  steamer,  however,  crosses  one  of  these  bars  through 
the  channel  formed  by  the  Mississippi  River  jetties.  These 
jetties  are  river  walls,  which  have  been  made  in  a  curious 
way.  They  were  planned  and  constructed  by  Captain 
James  B.  Eads,  in  order  that  ships  might  go  through  the  bars 
from  the  Gulf  into  the  deep  waters  of  the  river,  and  thus  reach 
New  Orleans  and  the  other  cities  upon  its  banks.  Captain 
Eads  saw  that  the  Gulf  was  much  deeper  a  little  beyond 
the  bars.  He  believed  that  if  he  could  make  confining 
walls  on  both  sides  of  the  channel,  the  water  would  flow 
so  much  faster  that  it  would  carry  its  load  of  mud  far  out 
into  the  Gulf  and  at  the  same  time  would  cut  a  channel 
through  the  bar.  He  laid  his  plan  before  Congress,  and 
was  given  the  money  to  carry  it  out.  It  proved  to  be  a 
success.  The  river  now  flows  through  with  great  force, 
and  a  channel,  several  hundred  feet  wide  and  over  thirty 
feet  deep,  has  been  made,  through  which  ships  can  go  in 
from  and  out  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

But  how  were  these  jetties  made  ? 

It  must  be  difficult  to  build  walls  in  the  sea.  First,  many 
rows  of  tall  tree  trunks,  or  piles,  were  driven  into  the  bed 
of  the  Gulf  on  both  sides  of  the  channel  so  that  they  formed 
thick  walls  running  from  the  end  of  the  land  through  the 
water,  over  the  bars,  and  on  into  the  Gulf.  Some  of  the 
piles  \vere  driven  down  into  the  bed  of  the  Gulf  to  a  depth 
of  thirty  feet  in  order  that  the  walls  might  be  strong. 


NEW    ORLEANS 


Isl 


But  the  trees  alone  could  not  have  kept  back  the  water. 
It  would  be  as  easy  to  stop  a  brook  with  your  hand  as  to 
keep  back  the  Mississippi  by  tree  trunks.  Solid  and 
closely  built  embankments  were  needed  ;  and  these  could 
not  be  made  with  mortar  or  stone,  for  there  was  no  way  to 
keep  back  the  water  while  the  masons  were  working. 

How  do  you  think  they  did  it  ? 

They  called  upon  the  river  to  help  them.  First  they 
cut  millions  of  willow  twigs  and  limbs,  and  tied  them 
together  into  great  rafts.  They  floated  these  rafts  in 
among  the  piles,  and  then  loaded  them  with  heavy  stones 
and  gravel  until  they  sank  to  the  bottom.  Then  they 
floated  other  rafts  just  over  these,  and  sank  them  in  the 
same  way,  until  at  last 
there  were  walls  of  wil 
low  and  stone  on  each 
side  of  the  channel  from 
the  land's  end  far  out 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

These  walls  were  soon 
made  tight  by  the  water. 
The  silt-laden  Mississip 
pi,  as  it  flowed  through 
the  willows  and  rocks, 
dropped  enough  mud  to 
fill  the  spaces  between 
them  ;  and  now  there  are 
solid  walls  several  miles 
long  on  each  side  of 
the  channel.  The  river 
rushes  through  with  such  force  that  it  carries  its  mud  far 
out  into  the  Gulf,  where  the  water  is  so  deep  that  it  does 
not  affect  travel. 


A  Street  Scene. 


152  THE    SOUTH 

The  greater  part  of  New  Orleans  is  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  river,  about  a  hundred  miles  from  the  Gulf.  We  pass 
many  vessels  as  we  sail  into  the  Mississippi,  and  they  in 
crease  in  number  as  we  approach  the  city.  New  Orleans 
is  the  chief  seaport  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  We  go  by 
steamers  piled  high  with  cotton  bales,  and  pass  others 
loaded  with  barrels  of  sugar,  and  some  filled  with  grain  to 
be  carried  to  Europe.  New  Orleans  is  fast  becoming  one 
of  our  chief  grain  ports,  and  vast  quantities  of  wheat  from 
the  upper  parts  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  are  shipped  by 
this  route  every  year  to  the  markets  of  Europe. 


A  Cemetery,  New  Orleans. 

From  the  deck  of  our  steamer  we  can  see  for  miles  over 
the  country.  In  some  places  the  land  is  lower  than  the 
surface  of  the  river,  and  levees,  or  high  banks,  have  been 
built  up  to  keep  back  the  waters.  This  is  the  case  with 


NEW  ORLEANS  153 

parts  of  New  Orleans.  The  city  lies  about  ten  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  Gulf,  and  so  far  below  the  level  of  the 
Mississippi  at  flood  times  that  in  some  places  levees  twenty 
feet  high  have  been  built  to  keep  out  the  water.  There 
are  but  few  spots  in  the  city  where  one  can  dig  many  feet 
without  striking  water,  and  for  this  reason  there  are  not 
many  cisterns  or  cellars.  In  some  of  the  cemeteries  the 
graves  are  above  ground,  and  we  visit  one  where  the  coffins 
are  laid  away  in  vaults,  resting  one  on  top  of  the  other,  as 
though  in  a  great  file  of  pigeonholes. 

We  find  New  OrJeans  interesting.  It  is  more  like 
a  European  city  than  any  other  place  in  the  United  States. 
It  first  belonged  to  the  French.  A  little  later  Spain  owned 
a  large  part  of  our  country  northwest  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  New  Orleans  then  became  the  chief  Spanish  town  of 
the  New  World.  After  that  the  territory  again  came  into  the 
possession  of  France,  and  in  1803  it  was  sold  by  the  French 
to  the  United  States.  You  may  have  read  in  your  history 
of  the  sale  as  the  "  Louisiana  purchase."  By  that  purchase 
we  got  some  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of  our  country. 

When  Louisiana  was  made  a  state,  New  Orleans  was  its 
capital,  and  it  remained  so  for  many  years,  although  the 
capital  is  now  Baton  Rouge.  When  the  Spanish  took 
the  city,  the  people  objected.  The  Spanish  had  to 
fight  for  possession ;  and  after  that  they  surrounded  it 
with  walls  and  fortifications.  During  our  War  of  1812  it 
was  besieged  by  Sir  Edward  Pakenham,  with  a  force  of 
twelve  thousand  Britons,  but  he  was  defeated  by  General 
Andrew  Jackson  with  six  thousand  Americans.  The  battle 
lasted  only  a  short  time,  when  the  British  fled,  leaving 
twenty-six  hundred  killed  and  wounded  behind  them. 

In  our  Civil  War,  New  Orleans  was  long  in  the  hands 
of  the  Confederate  troops.  It  was  ably  defended,  but  was 


154  THE    SOUTH 

finally  taken  by  Admiral  Farragut,  whose  ships  slipped  by 
the  forts  above  the  city  at  night  and  captured  a  number  of 
the  Confederate  vessels  which  were  defending  it. 

New  Orleans  was  then  only  a  town.  It  is  now  a  city. 
It  has  several  hundred  thousand  people,  but  it  still  shows 
the  walls  made  by  the  foreigners  who  founded  it.  It  has 
long  streets  of  old  houses  with  tiled  roofs,  somewhat  like 
the  buildings  we  see  in  the  pictures  of  Italy  and  southern 
France.  There  are  wide  porches,  or  galleries,  built  from 


Canal  Street,  New  Orleans. 

the  second  stories  of  the  houses  over  the  streets,  so  that 
we  can  walk  for  blocks  keeping  out  of  the  rain  or  sun,  ex 
cept  at  the  crossings. 

In  some  parts  of  New  Orleans  there  is  as  much  Spanish 
and  French  spoken  as  English.  Suppose  we  visit  the 
French  market.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  city.  It 
is  not  far  from  Canal  Street,  the  chief  business  highway, 


NEW    ORLEANS  155 

and  we  can  easily  walk  to  it  from  our  hotel.  We  find  that 
many  of  the  marketmen  are  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian, 
and  those  who  are  buying  use  a  strange  jargon  in  making 
their  bargains.  At  some  of  the  stalls  vegetables  are  sold 
by  the  lot,  and  not  by  the  bushel,  peck,  or  quart.  They 
are  arranged  upon  tables  in  piles,  and  each  marketman  fixes 
the  price  of  his  piles.  The  buyers  take  those  which  they 
think  are  the  biggest  and  cheapest. 

Let  us  walk  down  to  the  wharves.     The  city  has  a  great 
commerce.     Grain,  cotton,  and  other  products  come  down 


On  the  Wharves  at  New  Orleans. 

the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  in  ships  and  barges,  and 
many  ocean  steamers  go  through  the  jetties  carrying  them 
to  Europe.  There  are  railroads  from  here  to  all  parts  of 
the  North,  East,  and  West.  The  river  is  about  half  a  mile 
wide  and  from  sixty  to  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  deep. 
It  gives  the  city  and  its  suburbs  a  water  front  of  over 
twenty-five  miles,  which  for  the  greater  part  is  lined  with 


156  THE   SOUTH 

wharves  and  docks.  New  Orleans  is  one  of  our  chief 
cotton-shipping  ports,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bales 
are  sent  from  here  to  Europe  every  year.  The  cotton 
comes  down  in  boats  and  on  the  cars  from  the  plantations 
of  the  Mississippi  and  Gulf  states.  It  is  first  hauled  to  com 
presses,  where  it  is  squeezed  into  smaller  bundles  so  that 
it  may  take  up  the  least  possible  room  on  the  steamers. 

As  we  get  nearer  the  wharves,  we  see  huge  drays  loaded 
with  cotton.  They  are  pulled  by  mules  driven  by  negroes, 
who  sit  high  up  in  the  air  on  top  of  the  bales.  Let  us  fol 
low  one  and  see  how  the  pressing  is  done. 

The  wagon  goes  through  the  narrow  streets  not  far  from 
the  banks  of  the  river.  Here  are  many  low  buildings  sur 
rounding  large  yards,  which  can  be  entered  only  through 
iron  doors.  These  are  the  cotton  yards.  We  go  into  one 
and  see  that  it  is  walled  around  with  immense  sheds  filled 
with  cotton  bales.  The  court  is  covered  with  cotton, 
and  the  pavements  outside  are  so  piled  up  with  bales  that 
we  find  it  hard  to  pass  through. 

As  we  look,  a  loaded  dray  comes  in  through  the  doors. 
The  bales  are  rolled  off  and  weighed.  They  are  then 
wheeled  on  low  trucks  to  another  part  of  the  yard,  where 
the  great  pressing  machines  are  at  work. 

As  the  cotton  comes  in,  each  bale  takes  up  about  as  much 
space  as  an  ordinary  kitchen  table.  It  is  as  high  as  our 
shoulders  and  about  four  feet  square.  It  has  already  been 
squeezed  by  the  machinery  of  the  plantations  into  as  small 
a  package  as  was  possible  without  the  use  of  the  great 
cotton  press. 

But  see,  the  man  who  has  wheeled  in  that  bale  has 
already  cut  the  iron  hoops  with  which  it  is  bound,  and 
as  he  does  so  the  cotton  swells  out  as  though  taking  a 
breath  of  relief.  It  swells  more  and  more  as  it  is  thrown 


A   SUGAR    PLANTATION  157 

into  the  press,  not  seeming  to  realize  that  those  huge  jaws 
of  iron  above  and  below  will  crush  it  harder  than  ever. 

There  is  a  steam  engine  close  by ;  and,  as  we  look, 
the  engineer  pulls  a  lever,  and  the  two  heavy  steel  jaws 
move  towards  each  other.  The  bale  of  cotton  seems  to 
groan  as  the  jaws  squeeze  it  tighter  and  tighter,  until  at 
last  it  is  not  so  high  as  your  knee.  It  has  been  pressed 
from  a  thickness  of  four  feet  to  one  of  twelve  inches ;  and 
as  it  lies  there  thus  squeezed,  the  iron  straps  are  again 
fastened  around  it.  As  the  monster  machine  lets  go,  the 
bale  swells  out  a  little,  trying  to  burst  its  iron  bands,  but  in 
vain.  It  is  now  pulled  forth  and  rolled  upon  another  dray, 
which  is  waiting  to  carry  it  off  to  its  dark  prison  in  the 
hold  of  the  steamer.  Such  pressing  costs  but  little,  and  it  is 
more  than  repaid  by  the  increased  number  of  bales  that 
can  be  stowed  away  on  a  ship. 


19.     A   VISIT   TO    A    SUGAR   PLANTATION 

HAVE  you  a  sweet  tooth  ?  If  so,  you  must  be  careful 
in  your  travels  with  us  to-day.  New  Orleans  is  one 
of  the  chief  sugar  markets  of  the  United  States.  There 
are  thousands  of  barrels  of  sugar  piled  up  on  the  wharves, 
and  there  are  streets  of  the  city  in  which  so  much  is  being 
refined  that  we  can  smell  nothing  else  as  we  walk  through 
them. 

We  are  now  in  the  land  of  sugar.  There  are  vast  plan 
tations  in  this  part  of  the  country  where  sugar  cane  is  cul 
tivated,  and  we  can  here  learn  how  cane  sugar  is  made. 
We  saw  how  maple  sugar  is  produced  in  New  England  by 


158 


THE    SOUTH 


boiling  down  the  sap  of  a  tree.  In  the  western  part  of  our 
country  a  great  deal  of  sugar  is  made  from  beets ;  but  cane 
sugar  comes  from  the  plantations  of  the  rich,  moist  lands 
about  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  We  do  not  produce  all  the 
sugar  we  use.  We  import  beet  sugar  from  Germany,  and 
cane  sugar  by  the  shipload  from  the  West  Indies,  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and  Brazil. 

There  are  scores  of  sugar  plantations,  some  of   which 
contain  thousands  of    acres,   within  a  few    hours'  ride  of 


A  Sugar  Plantation. 

New  Orleans.  The  one  we  shall  visit  to-day  is  so  large 
that  it  has  a  railroad  upon  it  to  carry  the  sugar  cane  from 
the  fields  to  the  factory.  It  employs  so  many  people  that 
their  houses  would  make  quite  a  large  village,  and  the 
buildings  of  its  refinery  cover  several  acres. 

We  must  take  the  railroad  train  to  go  to  the  plantation. 
Leaving  New  Orleans,  we  go  for  miles  through  fields  of 
Now  and  then  we  see  the  smoke  of  a  huge 


A   SUGAR    PLANTATION 


factory  streaming  out  against  the  blue  sky.  We  pass 
through  swamps  whose  trees  are  loaded  with  Spanish 
moss,  and  at  last  stop  at  the  station  built  upon  the  estate. 

We  first  take  horses  for  a  gallop  over  the  plantation. 
There  are  roads  through  the  fields,  and  we  go  for  miles 
between  walls  of  green  cane.  The 
leaves  of  the  stalks  rise  above  our 
heads  as  we  sit  on  our  horses. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  great 
field  of  corn,  ready  for  cutting  ? 

Such  a  field  looks  not  unlike 
a  sugar  plantation  when  the  cane 
is  ripe.  The  sugar  cane,  however, 
is  much  higher  than  the  corn,  and 
its  stalk  has  several  broad  leaves 
where  the  corn  stalk  has  one. 
Many  of  the  sugar-cane  stalks 
are  fifteen  feet  high;  they  are 
planted  so  close  together  in  the 
rows  that  it  would  be  almost  im 
possible  for  one  to  make  his  way  through  them. 

But  before  we  go  farther,  let  us  stop  and  learn  how  the 
cane  is  grown.  The  planting  is  not  like  corn  planting. 
Corn  is  raised  from  the  seed  and  is  always  planted  in  the 
spring.  Sugar  cane  may  be  planted  in  either  fall  or  spring, 
and  in  place  of  the  seed,  pieces  of  ripe  stalks  are  laid  flat  in 
furrows  which  run  from  one  side  of  the  field  to  the  other. 
The  furrows  are  about  seven  feet  apart.  The  stalks  are 
so  laid  down  that  they  fit  close  together,  three  being  placed 
side  by  side,  making  three  long  rows  or  pipes  of  cane  in 
each  furrow.  Next,  the  soil  is  thrown  over  the  cane  with 
a  plow.  In  the  spring  sprouts  start  up  from  each  joint  of 
the  cane,  making  long  ribbons  of  green,  as  it  were,  against 


Cutting  the  Cane 


l6o  THE   SOUTH 

the  black  field.  These  sprouts  grow  rapidly.  In  August 
they  have  become  as  tall  as  a  man,  and  they  grow  on  until 
the  middle  of  October,  when  they  are  about  twice  as  high 
as  the  average  corn  stalk  and  are  ready  for  cutting.  This 
is  the  size  of  the  cane  on  the  plantation  we  visit. 

We  stay  for  a  while  at  one  end  of  the  farm,  where 
scores  of  men  and  women  are  cutting  the  cane.  They 
labor  in  squads,  under  an  overseer ;  and  as  they  stand  in 
the  fields  they  face  what  looks  like  a  solid  wall  of  green. 
Each  has  a  knife,  which  flashes  in  the  sunlight  as  he  cuts 
his  way  through  the  wall. 

See  how  carefully  and  how  quickly  they  work  !  They 
seem  to  know  just  how  many  strokes  to  use,  so  that  not  a 
motion  is  wasted.  The  sweetest  juice  is  found  near  the 
bottom  of  the  stalks,  and  for  that  reason  they  cut  them  off 
close  to  the  ground.  The  tops  and  leaves  are  worth  but 
little  for  sugar,  and  so  they  strip  each  stalk  of  its  leaves  and 
cut  off  its  top  before  they  go  on  to  the  next.  The  stalks, 
when  cut,  are  thrown  into  piles,  or  windrows,  from  which 
they  are  taken  in  carts  to  the  cars. 

There  is  a  loaded  train  ready  to  move.  Let  us  jump  on 
and  go  with  it,  and  see  something  of  the  work  it  takes  to 
produce  a  spoonful  of  sugar. 

On  our  way  to  the  factory  we  cross  large  canals.  We 
are  told  that  the  plantation  was  at  one  time  a  swamp,  and 
that  the  land  had  to  be  drained  before  the  cane  could  be 
planted.  We  have  already  learned  how  much  work  it 
takes  to  grow  cane.  We  are  now  about  to  see  the  wonder 
ful  machinery  required  to  get  the  juice  out  of  the  stalks 
and  turn  it  to  sugar. 

Our  car  stops  at  one  of  a  group  of  large  buildings.  The 
cane  is  thrown  off  upon  a  moving  belt,  or  roadway,  which 
carries  it  to  the  top  of  the  big  mill,  and  drops  it  down  upon 


A   SUGAR    PLANTATION 


161 


two  heavy  rollers,  which  have  teeth  much  like  those  of  an 
enormous  file.  The  rollers  are  each  as  large  around  as 
a  hogshead  and  much  longer.  They  are  of  steel,  and  so 
arranged  that  a  great  weight  can  be  added  to  them  by 
machinery.  As  the  stalks  fail  upon  the  rollers,  the  teeth 
catch  hold  of  them  and  pull  them  in.  The  weight  is  such 
that  the  juice  is  squeezed  out,  and  as  the  cane  comes  forth 
it  is  crushed  to  a  pith,  and  is  as  dry  as  a  last  year's  corn 


Interior  of  Sugar  Mill. 

stalk.  It  is  so  dry  that  it  burns  easily.  As  it  comes  from 
the  rollers  it  falls  upon  a  moving  belt  which  drops  it  into 
the  top  of  the  furnaces,  where  it  forms  the  fuel  that  makes 
the  steam  to  squeeze  the  juice  out  of  the  stalks  yet  to  come, 
and  also  to  run  the  other  machinery  of  the  mill. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  juice  ?    Come  with  me  under  the 
rollers  and  see.     It  is  pouring  down  from  them  in  streams 


1 62  THE   SOUTH 

into  a  trough  about  a  foot  wide.  We  dip  in  our  fingers 
and  taste  the  liquid  as  it  falls  from  the  cane.  It  is  so 
sweet  that  it  is  sickening.  It  looks  dirty,  and  reminds  us 
of  dishwater.  Still,  out  of  this  sweet,  dirty  water  the  pure 
white  sugar  will  come.  But  every  bit  of  dirt  must  first  be 
taken  out  of  it,  and  it  is  made  as  clear  as  crystal  before  it 
is  boiled  down  into  sugar. 

The  water  is  first  carried  by  pipes  into  large  iron  tanks, 
where  it  is  bleached  by  running  sulphurous  acid  gas  through 
it.  The  gas  makes  it  bubble,  and  a  yellow  foam  rises  to  the 
top  and  is  skimmed  off.  Lime  is  now  put  into  the  tank  to 
settle  the  dirt  and  remove  the  acid.  After  several  such 
processes,  the  water  becomes  clear. 

It  is  now  ready  for  boiling.  This  is  done  in  huge  cop 
per  kettles  or  vats,  heated  by  coils  of  steam  pipe.  The 
liquid  is  skimmed  as  it  boils.  It  flows  from  one  tank  to 
another,  growing  clearer  and  clearer,  and  thicker  and 
thicker.  Taste  it  now.  It  is  the  purest  of  sirup,  and  its 
color  has  turned  a  light  yellow. 

Look  at  the  sirup  as  it  seethes  in  the  tank  !  What  an 
enormous  amount  there  is  of  it !  Let  us  follow  the  pipes 
through  which  it  is  emptied  into  the  immense  vats  on  the 
floor  overhead.  There  is  enough  sirup  here  to  give  the 
children  of  a  whole  state  a  taffy  pulling.  At  the  left  is 
one  big  barrel  which  contains  forty  thousand  pounds  of 
sirup,  all  boiling  and  seething  in  the  process  of  being 
made  into  sugar. 

Come  with  me  now  to  that  great  vat,  and  see  the  half- 
sugared  molasses  within  it.  The  vat  is  twice  as  long  as 
our  parlor  at  home,  and  so  deep  that  if  we  fell  in  we 
should  be  drowned  in  the  mixture.  Let  us  take  up  a 
spoonful.  It  is  as  thick  as  mush,  and  in  fact  is  a  mush  of 
molasses  and  sugar. 


A   SUGAR    PLANTATION 


I63 


It  needs  now  only  the  drying  machine  to  take  out  the 
sugar.  In  this  process  the  mixture  is  whirled  round  at 
great  speed,  being  thrown  against  the  fine  meshes  of  a 
sievelike  vessel  in  which  it  is  placed ;  and  the  molasses 
passes  through,  leaving  only  the  white  crystals  of  sugar. 
After  a  time  the  walls  of  the  vessel  are  coated  with  what 


Where  the  Sugar  Cane  Grows. 

looks  like  snow.  This  is  pure  sugar,  which  is  now  ready 
to  be  packed  up  in  barrels  and  shipped  to  the  markets. 

The  coarser  sugars  are  not  so  carefully  cleaned,  but  most 
of  our  fine  sugar  is  made  in  this  way. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  molasses  ?  This  word,  used 
in  a  sugar  refinery,  means  the  refuse  left  after  making  the 
sugar.  It  contains  the  poorest  parts  of  the  juice  after  all 
the  sugar  possible  has  been  taken  from  it.  Such  molasses 
is  different  from  that  sold  as  sirup,  which  is  made  from  the 
fine  juice  of  the  cane.  The  refuse  molasses  is  so  cheap  that 
it  often  brings  as  little  as  one  cent  a  gallon.  At  such  times 


164  THE   MISSISSIPPI 

it  does  not  pay  to  put  it  in  barrels,  for  the  barrels  would 
be  worth  more  than  the  molasses  ;  and  so  it  is  carried  to 
the  markets  in  tank  cars,  and  sold  largely  in  bulk. 


20.    UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER  TO  ST.   LOUIS 

WE  leave  New  Orleans  on  a  steamer  this  morning  for 
a  tour  through  the  Mississippi  Valley.  This  valley 
contains  more  than  one  third  of  all  the  land  of  the  United 
States.  It  has  more  rich  soil  than  can  be  found  in  one 
place  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  It  is  almost  all  good 
land.  It  lies  in  the  temperate  zone,  and  forms  one  of  the 
best  dwelling  places  for  civilized  man. 

The  Mississippi,  including  the  Missouri,  is  the  longest 
river  of  the  world ;  and,  with  its  branches,  it  has  one  of 
the  most  extensive  river  systems  of  the  globe.  One  might 
cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  New  York  to  Liverpool 
three  times,  and  not  go  as  far  as  he  could  sail  upon  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries. 

As  we  see  this  system  on  the  map,  it  seems  like  a  huge 
tree,  with  its  roots  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  its  mighty 
branches  spreading  out  over  the  richest  lands  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  the  chief  water  highway  of  the  central  part 
of  our  country,  and  an  almost  endless  procession  of  boats 
and  ships  is  always  moving  up  and  down  the  trunk  and 
through  the  various  branches.  We  pass  scores  of  vessels 
as  we  leave  New  Orleans. 

Our  steamer  makes  us  think  of  a  floating  house  of  three 
stories.  The  lower  ones  are  filled  with  freight;  above 
them  are  our  sleeping  and  dining. rooms,  and  the  hurri- 


RIVER   SCENERY  165 

cane  deck  is  the  yard  where  we  play  and  stroll  about, 
watching  the  banks  on  both  sides.  We  are  moved  through 
the  muddy  waters  by  those  great  paddle  wheels  at  the  sides 
of  the  boat,  which  its  steam  engines  keep  going  day  and 
night. 

How  green  and  beautiful  everything  is ! 

At  times  we  are  sailing  through  forests  of  cypress  trees, 
loaded  with  Spanish  moss.  The  trees  are  so  bound  to- 


1 


A  Mississippi  Steamboat. 

gether  with  grapevines  and  dense  vegetation  that  they  form 
green  walls  on  each  side  of  the  wide,  yellow  river ;  and  the 
only  living  things  we  can  see  are  the  birds  which  hop  from 
branch  to  branch,  and  now  and  then  a  few  people  at  the 
clearings,  where  little  farms  have  been  cut  out  of  the  woods. 
Now  the  Mississippi  widens,  and  we  seem  to  be  travel 
ing  through  a  series  of  lakes.  We  pass  swamps  and  float 
by  fields  of  sugar  cane  and  cotton. 

CARP.    N.  A.  —  II 


1 66 


THE   MISSISSIPPI 


Now  and  then  we  stop  to  take  on  or  leave  freight  and 
passengers  at  the  villages  on  the  banks ;  and  farther  up 
the  stream,  at  Natchez  and  other  cities,  we  load  packages 
of  goods,  bales  of  cotton,  and  hogsheads  of  tobacco.  Rough- 
looking  men  and  boys,  most  of  them  colored,  load  and  un 
load  the  steamers.  They  sing  as  they  work,  making  a 
great  noise  as  they  roll  the  huge  bales  down  the  gangplank. 


A  Cypress  Swamp. 

At  Vicksburg  we  stay  for  some  hours.  Here  there  are 
immense  elevators  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  bales  of 
cotton,  barrels  of  flour,  and  bags  of  grain  are  rolled  down 
into  the  boat.  All  kinds  of  things  are  brought  to  the 
steamer.  We  see  hundreds  of  crates  of  chickens  taken  on 
board  to  be  carried  to  market.  Each  crate  is  just  high 
enough  for  the  chickens  to  stand  up  inside  it.  They  poke 


THE   LEVEES  167 

their  heads  out  of  the-  slats  and  squawk  complainingly  at 
us  as  the  men  carry  them  upon  the  boat. 

All  the  way  to  Memphis  we  pass  steamers  loaded  with 
cotton,  going  down  to  New  Orleans.  Memphis  is  one  of 
the  most  important  cities  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 
There  are  so  many  boats  at  its  wharves  that  they  make 
us  think  of  a  seaport.  There  are  steamers  ready  to  sail 
up  the  Arkansas  and  White  rivers,  and  in  the  busy  season 
one  can  go  by  boat  every  day  from  Memphis  to  St.  Louis. 

How  the  Mississippi  winds  in  as  it  flows  on  its  course ! 
From  Cairo  to  New  Orleans  it  is  like  an  enormous  snake, 
only  more  crooked  than  any  snake  could  possibly  be. 
Mark  Twain,  who  was  once  a  Mississippi  pilot,  said  that 
if  you  should  pare  an  apple  so  as  to  leave  the  whole 
peeling  in  one  long  strip,  and  should  throw  the  peeling 
over  your  shoulder,  as  it  fell  on  the  floor  it  would  look 
much  like  the  lower  part  of  the  Mississippi  River.  As 
our  steamer  winds  about  through  the  curves,  we  see  other 
boats  sailing  to  the  right  and  left  along  the  winding  cur 
rent  above  and  below  us ;  and  there  are  places  where  we 
can  get  off  upon  the  land,  and  walk  across  the  fields  a 
half  mile  or  so,  and  there  wait  for  the  steamer,  which  may 
have  to  go  a  dozen  miles  around  to  reach  the  same  point. 

As  we  make  our  way  up  the  river,  we  notice  that  banks, 
or  levees,  have  been  built  up  on  each  side  of  it  to  keep  the 
water  from  running  over  the  land.  There  are  eighteen 
hundred  miles  of  such  levees,  on  one  side  or  the  other. 
It  has  cost  many  millions  of  dollars  to  build  them,  and 
every  year  Congress  gives  a  large  sum  to  improve  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi. 

Are  the  levees  strong  enough  to  protect  the  people  from 
floods  ? 

Yes  ;  sometimes,  but  not  always.     The  Mississippi  River 


l68  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

is  hard  to  control.  It  is  always  changing  its  course,  al 
ways  wearing  off  the  land  in  some  places,  and  piling  it  up 
in  others.  It  seems  to  be  ever  looking  for  a  weak  spot 
where  it  can  break  through  its  banks.  The  least  crack 
is  soon  enlarged  by  the  water  flowing  through  it,  and  if  not 
stopped  at  once,  the  river  will  pour  out  over  the  land. 


A  Levee. 

The  moment  a  break  is  discovered  the  people  rush  forth 
to  fill  it.  They  drive  down  stakes  into  the  water  where 
the  crack  is,  and  put  bags  of  earth  between  them.  They 
take  boats,  and  throw  all  kinds  of  stuff  into  the  break, 
in  order  to  stop  the  stream  before  it  can  make  the  hole 
larger.  If  the  break  becomes  ten  feet  wide,  it  is  almost 
useless  to  try  to  keep  back  the  waters.  They  dissolve  the 
bank  as  though  it  were  sugar;  they  cut  through  the  earth 
like  a  knife ;  and  when  the  break  has  reached  a  width  of  a 
hundred  feet  or  more,  the  banks  drop  down  into  the  water 
in  slices  half  an  acre  in  thickness,  and  the  aiuddy  river 
with  a  loud  noise  rushes  over  the  country. 


RIVER   TRAFFIC 


169 


At  such  times  farms  are  often  swallowed  up  ;  islands 
are  made  in  the  stream,  and  thousands  of  acres  of  land 
become  lakes  and  ponds.  The  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep, 
when  they  see  the  waters  advancing,  run  to  the  highest 
places,  and  they  often  starve  before  the  river  subsides  or 
the  people  can  come  in  boats  to  take  them  away.  The 
Mississippi  floods  tear  down  houses,  and  one  may  some- 


Flood  caused  by  a  Break  in  a  Levee. 

times  see  buildings,  with  families  on  the  roofs,  floating 
upon  the  river.  The  woodpiles  on  the  banks  are  carried 
away,  and  large  trees  that  have  been  torn  up  by  the  roots 
are  rapidly  borne  along  by  the  current. 

On  our  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  we  are  stopped  again 
and  again  by  the  ships  and  barges  coming  down.  The 
traffic  is  enormous.  We  pass  long  rafts  of  lumber  from 
the  Red  River  and  the  upper  Mississippi,  with  little  houses 
built  upon  them,  in  which  the  lumbermen  live  during  the 
voyage. 


170  THE    MISSISSIPPI 

There  are  huge  barges  loaded  with  produce,  fastened 
together  in  blocks,  and  pushed  by  steamboats  behind  them. 
Many  of  the  barges  contain  corn  and  wheat,  and  we  learn 
that  millions  of  bushels  of  grain  are  thus  taken  down  to 
New  Orleans  every  year. 

Freight  can  be  carried  much  more  cheaply  upon  water 
than  upon  land.  The  rates  on  the  Mississippi  are  so  low 
that  as  much  grain  as  two  horses  could  haul  is  carried  at  the 
rate  of  a  cent  for  every  five  miles,  and  it  costs  only  a  few 
cents  to  take  a  bushel  of  wheat  from  St.  Louis  to  New 
Orleans,  although  the  ships  require  several  days  to  go  be 
tween  the  two  cities.  Coal  is  carried  upon  the  rivers  even 
more  cheaply.  Its  freight  rate  is  so  little  that  people  in 
New  Orleans  use  coal  from  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania, 
although  those  mines  are  as  far  away  as  Maine  is  distant 
from  Ireland. 

But  why  does  it  cost  so  little  to  carry  heavy  things  on 
the  water  ? 

We  can  easily  see  as  we  look  at  the  big  loads  going  by 
us,  pushed  by  small  steamers.  A  little  steamboat  on  the 
Mississippi  can  do  more  work  than  one  several  times  as 
large  on  the  ocean.  Thisv  is  because  the  storms  do  not 
affect  the  rivers  as  they  do  the  oceans.  There  are  no 
heavy  seas  to  sail  through,  and  the  streams  are  so  quiet 
that  large  water-tight  boxes  or  barges  can  be  used  to  carry 
all  sorts  of  goods.  Moreover,  as  there  are  no  waves  to 
contend  with,  one  little  engine  can  push  many  of  these 
barges  down  the  river. 

There  comes  a  steamship  now,  shoving  along  a  half- 
dozen  huge  barges  piled  high  with  coal.  Notice  how  she 
puffs  as  she  forces  them  onward.  The  barges  are  fastened 
together,  two  moving  along  side  by  side.  Each  barge  is 
as  long  as  a  city  lot  and  almost  as  wide.  It  is  as  deep  as 


RIVER   TRAFFIC 


171 


from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling  of  an  ordinary  room  and,  in 
deed,  if  we  should  imagine  our  schoolroom  packed  full  of 
coal,  we  may  have  an  idea  of  the  amount  that  each  of  these 
great  flat  boats  is  carrying  down  to  New  Orleans. 

As  we  approach  the  city  of  Cairo,  we  are  almost  stopped 
by  the  barges.  They  have  come  through  the  Ohio  River 
from  the  coal  fields  of  West  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Ohio,  the  most  of  them  having  been  loaded  at  Pittsburgh. 
The  Ohio  River  may  be  called  the  coal  chute  for  the  cities 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  A  continuous  procession  of 
barges  floats 
down  it,  carrying 
millions  of  tons 
of  coal  to  the 
cities  along  its 
banks,  furnish 
ing  the  fuel  which 
makes  steam  for 
the  factories  of 
Cincinnati,  Lou 
isville,  and  St. 
Louis. 

Leaving  Cairo, 
we  find  the  river 
much  straighter 
than  it  was  far 
ther  south.  We 
sail  through  a 
rich  farming  country  and  soon  reach  St.  Louis.  This  city 
is  the  most  important  of  all  upon  the  Mississippi  River. 
It  is  one  of  our  chief  commercial  and  manufacturing 
centers,  being  the  fourth  in  size  among  the  cities  of  the 
United  States. 


Union  Station,  St.  Louis. 


172  THE    MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY 

It  is  the  situation  of  St.  Louis  that  makes  it  so  important. 
It  is  on  the  Mississippi  River,  between  the  mouths  of  the 
Missouri  and  the  Ohio,  and  only  a  few  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  River,  so  that  goods  can  be  easily 
shipped  up  and  down  the  Mississippi  and  through  all  the 
branches  of  its  system.  This  makes  St.  Louis  the  gateway 
to  the  southwestern  part  of  our  country,  and  many  of  the 
goods  shipped  to  Mexico  go  through  it.  St.  Louis  is  a 
great  railroad  center,  and  a  vast  number  of  trains  are 
always  speeding  to  and  from  it,  carrying  all  kinds  of 
freight.  During  our  stay  we  look  at  the  huge  bridges 
across  the  Mississippi,  and  then  visit  the  Union  Railroad 
Station,  which  is  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  of  the  world. 
The  trains  all  back  into  it,  so  that  the  engines  are  left  out 
side,  keeping  the  smoke  out  of  the  building. 

We  find  St.  Louis  a  magnificent  city.  It  has  wide,  well- 
paved  streets  and  many  large  buildings.  It  has  several  fine 
parks,  and  we  enjoy  our  drives  through  the  residence  por 
tion,  the  houses  of  which  have  beautiful  yards. 


21.  INDIAN  CORN  AND  THE  CORN  BELT 

AS  we  sail  on  up  the  Mississippi  north  from  St.  Louis, 
we  pass  through  vast  tracts  of  corn.  For  hundreds 
of  miles  the  banks  on  both  sides  are  lined  with  cornfields, 
and  we  might  travel  east  or  west  for  hours,  on  fast  railway 
trains,  without  coming  to  the  end  of  the  fields.  We  are 
now  in  the  heart  of  the  great  corn  patch  of  the  United 
States,  and  we  decide  to  stop  off  and  spend  some  time 
investigating  this  wonderful  crop. 


THE   CORN   CROP 


The  corn  grows  so  well  here  that  in  some  places  it  reaches 
above  the  car  windows,  and  we  are  whirled  along  on  the 
trains  between  walls 
of  green  stalks,  the 
wide  leaves  of  which 
rustle  in  the  wind 
made  by  the  train  as 
it  carries  us  through 
them.  Now  the  track 
runs  upon  an  embank 
ment.  We  are  above 

the       fields,        looking  The  Corn  Region. 

over  a  sea  of  green  leaves,  spotted  with  the  golden  tassels 
which  form  the  ends  of  the  stalks.     Some  of  the  leaves 

have  turned    yellow,   the 

\    -  «/ 

green  stalks  are  streaked 
with  yellow,  and  the  fat 
ears  have  husks  of  a  lemon 
hue. 

The  corn  crop  is  now 
ready  for  harvest.  It  is 
being  cut  and  shocked, 
and  later  on  the  ears  will 
be  torn  from  their  husks 
and  carried  to  the  markets. 
Pull  off  one  of  those 
ears  of  corn  and  look  at 
it.  We  have  before  us 
one  of  the  most  wonder 
ful  of  grains.  It  is  a  grain  which  more  than  any  other  be 
longs  to  our  continent,  for  it  was  not  known  in  Europe 
before  America  was  discovered. 

Take  one  of  the  kernels  and  bite  it  open.      How  hard  it 


Husking  Corn. 


174  THE    MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY 

is,  and  how  white  its  inside  !  If  you  should  put  it  under  the 
microscope,  you  might  find  that  its  flesh  is  composed  of 
hundreds  of  little  boxes,  filled  with  scores  of  cells,  so  that 
there  are  thousands  of  cells  in  a  single  grain.  Each  cell 
contains  starch  and  other  matter  good  to  eat,  and  corn  is 
one  of  the  best  foods  for  both  man  and  beast. 

Do  you  realize  how  much  our  corn  crop  is  worth  to  us  ? 
It  is  by  far  the  most  valuable  thing  we  raise.  We  get  more 
from  it  every  year  than  we  do  from  all  our  gold,  silver,  and 
lead  mines.  Our  corn  crop  is  often  worth  more  than  twice  as 
much  as  our  wheat  crop.  We  produce  so  much  that  it  is  al 
most  impossible  to  realize  how  great  the  amount  is.  We  raise 
two  or  three  billion  bushels  of  shelled  corn  every  year.  The 
figures  are  too  big  for  us  to  understand  them,  and  we  shall 
consider  first  only  the  corn  grown  in  this  region  where  we 
are  traveling.  Corn  is  raised  in  nearly  every  part  of  the 
United  States,  but  more  than  half  of  our  crop  comes  from 
the  seven  great  states  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  to  the 
right  of  us,  and  Missouri,  Kansas,  Iowa,  and  Nebraska,  on 
our  left,  as  we  go  up  the  river.  .  This  is  the  most  extensive 
cornfield  on  the  globe.  It  produces  more  than  one  billion 
bushels  every  year,  which  sometimes  is  one  half  of  our 
crop. 

Now  let  us  think  for  a  moment  how  much  corn  one  bil 
lion  bushels  is.  Suppose  we  load  it  upon  wagons.  Forty 
bushels  of  shelled  corn  make  a  good  load  for  two  horses. 
Let  each  wagon  hold  that  amount,  and  let  the  teams  start 
at  the  Mississippi  River  and  go  eastward.  We  shall  drive 
so  that  the  noses  of  each  team  will  just  reach  the  tailboard 
of  the  wagon  in  front  of  it,  making  a  continuous  train  of 
wagons,  each  loaded  with  forty  bushels  of  corn.  Now  where 
would  the  first  wagon  be  when  the  last  bushel  was  loaded? 
At  Pittsburgh,  on  the  edge  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  ? 


THE    CORX    CROP  175 

No ;  it  would  be  much  farther  eastward. 
At  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ? 

No;    still  farther  eastward.     Suppose  that  the  wagons 
could  be  driven  across  the  oceans,  and  guess  again. 


"  We  should  have  to  make  six  such  lines  around  the  world." 

It  might  perhaps  reach  almost  to  Paris,  do  I  hear  some 
one  say  ? 

Yes;  it  would  reach,  on  and  on,  much  farther  than  that. 
The  line  of  wagons  would  extend  from  the  Mississippi  over 
our  own  country  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  across  the  Atlantic 
to  Europe,  across  Europe  and  over  the  highlands  of  Asia, 
and  then  across  the  wide  Pacific  Ocean.  It  would  not  stop 


176  THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY 

there,  but  would  climb  over  the  plateaus  and  peaks  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  come  back  to  you  at  the  Mississippi 
River,  making  a  solid  belt  of  corn  wagons  clear  round  the 
world. 

But  stop  !  we  have  not  yet  loaded  all  of  the  corn  crop 
of  these  seven  states.  The  pile  seems  almost  as  big  as 
when  we  began.  There  are  five  times  as  much  left  as  that 
we  have  put  on  the  wagons,  and  we  should  have  to  make 
six  such  lines  around  the  world  before  we  could  load  a  single 
year's  crop.  It  would  take  so  many  wagons  that  if  they 
were  stretched  out  in  one  long  line,  the  first  wagon  would  be 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  miles  away  before 
the  last  was  loaded.  And  yet  these  seven  states  contain 
only  about  one  half  of  the  corn  we  produce,  and  you  must 
multiply  the  number  of  wagons  by  two  or  more  if  you  wish 
to  know  how  many  would  be  needed  to  Carry  one  year's 
corn  crop  of  the  whole  United  States. 

But  what  becomes  of  all  our  corn  ? 

Most  of  it  is  used  in  this  country.  Not  one  bushel 
in  twenty  is  shipped  to  Europe.  We  can  find  where  much 
of  it  goes  by  visiting  the  barnyards  of  the  United  States. 
We  see  the  farmers  throwing  it  out  to  their  stock.  We  have 
so  many  cattle  and  hogs  that  if  we  could  drive  them  in  single 
file  they  would  form  two  lines  long  enough  to  guard  our 
wagon  train  of  corn  as  it  is  stretched  round  the  globe.  In 
such  a  march  the  noisiest  animals  would  be  the  hogs.  There 
would  be  more  than  sixty  millions  of  them,  grunting  and 
squealing  as  they  followed  the  wagons.  Corn  is  the  best 
food  for  hogs.  By  feeding  it  to  them  the  farmer  turns 
his  corn  into  pork,  thus  making  the  hogs  manufacture  the 
corn  into  an  article  that  can  be  more  easily  sold. 

The  people  of  Europe  will  not  buy  much  corn,  but  they 
are  glad  to  get  our  meat ;  and  so,  through  this  corn  belt 


A  WHEAT   FARM  177 

where  we  are  traveling,  we  shall  find  vast  establishments 
devoted  to  the  killing  of  hogs  and  preparing  their  meat  for 
sale.  They  are  known  as  packing  houses.  We  may  visit 
them  at  Omaha,  St.  Joseph,  Kansas  City,  and  St.  Louis, 
where  hundreds  of  thousands  of  hogs  are  killed  every  year, 
and  from  where  their  meat  is  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the 
world. 


22.     A    VISIT    TO    A    GREAT    WHEAT    FARM 

NORTH  and  west  of  the  upper  Mississippi  is  a  region 
which  might  be  called  the   "  Bread  Basket  of  North 
America."     Here,  in  both  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
are  some  of  the  best  wheat  lands  of  the  world. 

Wheat  is  one  of  the  most  important  grains  known  to  man. 
It  has  been  used  for  ages  by  the  peoples  of  the  Old  World. 
Egypt  in  the  time  of  the 
Pharaohs  was  a  great 
wheat  land,  and  there 
are  pictures  on  the  walls 
of  some  of  the  Egyp 
tian  tombs  showing  how 
wheat  was  raised  there 
in  those  ancient  days. 
Wheat  is  now  grown  in 
every  grand  division. 


The  Wheat  Region. 

Great  quantities  are  produced  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  there  are  vast  wheat  lands 
in  Australia,  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  in  the 
valley  of  the  Parana  River  in  South  America. 

Although  wheat  was  not  known  in  this  hemisphere  be 
fore  Columbus  came,  our  continent  now  produces  more  than 


THE   NORTHWEST 


any  other  grand  division  except  Europe ;  and  the  United 
States  more  than  any  other  country.  The  people  of  Europe 
eat  also  a  great  deal  of  flour  made  from  our  wheat.  We  send 
millions  of  bushels  of  this  grain  every  year  across  the  At 
lantic;  and,  with  the  single  exception  of  cotton,  we  often  get 
more  from  foreign  countries  for  it  than  for  any  other  crop. 
Wheat  is  grown  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
but  our  best  wheat  lands  lie  north  of  the  Ohio  and  Missouri 
rivers.  In  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas  is  a  region  known 
as  the  Red  River  Valley,  where  the  wheat  farms  are  of  vast 
extent,  and  are  managed  on  a  grand  scale.  Each  farm 
has  its  bookkeeper  and  overseers.  It  employs  hundreds  of 
men,  and  purchases  its  machinery  and  supplies  by  the  car 
load,  at  wholesale  rates.  On  one  wheat  farm  in  North 
Dakota  there  are  two  hundred  and  fifty  pairs  of  work  horses 
and  mules,  two  hundred  plows,  a  hundred  and  fifteen  har 
vesting  machines,  and  twenty  threshing  machines  run  by 
steam.  When  the  grain  is  ripe,  four  hundred  men  are  em 
ployed  to  harvest 
it,  and  at  the  time 
of  threshing 
there  are  six  hun 
dred  at  work. 

But  suppose 
we  visit  a  big 
Dakota  wheat 
farm.  The  farm 
is  so  large  that 
we  ride  on  horse 
back  all  day  going  over  it.  Some  of  the  fields  contain  as 
much  as  five  hundred  acres.  The  men  working  in  them 
labor  in  companies,  under  mounted  overseers,  who  gallop 
from  one  company  to  another  to  see  that  everything  is 


A  Sulky  Plow. 


WHEAT   HARVEST  179 

properly  done.  Sometimes  a  score  of  sulky  plows,  driven 
by  men  who  sit  on  them,  move  across  the  field  together. 
They  may  plow  several  acres  at  a  single  trip,  riding  over 
the  prairie  as  they  turn  under  the  tough  sod. 

The  ground  is  harrowed  in  much  the  same  way,  and  the 
wheat  is  drilled  in  by  seeders,  or  grain  drills.  These  are 
long  boxes  mounted  on 
wheels.  Each  box  is 
filled  with  wheat.  From 
its  bottom  running  down 
to  the  earth  are  slen 
der  tubes  about  as  big 
around  as  a  broomstick. 
Through  these  tubes  the 
grains  of  wheat  fall  just 

t  .  ,      .  A  Grain  Drill. 

last  enough  to  seed  the 

ground  thoroughly.  Behind  each  tube  is  a  little  plow, 
which  covers  up  the  grain.  A  drill  is  drawn  by  two,  three, 
or  four  horses,  and  a  long  line  of  them  will  plant  a  vast  tract 
of  wheat  in  a  short  time. 

We  shall  suppose  that  our  visit  is  made  when  the  wheat 
is  ripe.  This  time  is  later  than  harvest  time  in  the  warmer 
wheat  lands  farther  south.  Harvesting  on  these  big  farms 
is  a  wonderful  sight.  The  wheat  is  cut  by  long  lines  of 
reaping  machines,  pulled  by  horses  or  mules.  The  din  of 
the  machinery  makes  us  think  of  a  boiler  factory.  We 
can  hardly  hear  the  voices  of  the  drivers  as  they  yell  at 
their  teams. 

As  we  draw  nearer,  we  find  that  most  of  the  noise  comes 
from  the  knives  which  are  moving  rapidly  back  and  forth 
a  few  inches  above  the  ground,  and  cutting  the  stalks  of 
grain  so  that  they  fall  back  upon  the  machine.  There  is  a 
great  reel  which  pushes  the  stalks  and  makes  them  fall  with 


i8o 


THE   NORTHWEST 


their  heads  all  the  same  way.  The  reaper  is  so  made  that 
it  rolls  the  stalks  together  into  a  bundle  or  sheaf,  and,  when 
the  sheaf  is  just  large  enough,  binds  a  band  of  wire  or  string 
about  it,  and  throws  it  off  the  machine.  Behind  the  ma 
chines  men  walk,  and  pick  up  the  sheaves  and  stand  them 
on  end  in  shocks,  so  that  the  grain  may  dry  before  it  is 
threshed-. 

Threshing  on  one  of  these  farms  is  far  different  from  that 
of  other  parts  of  the  world.  In  some  of  the  wheat  lands 
of  Europe  the  grains  are  pounded  out  with  a  club.  In 


Combined  Harvester  and  Thresher. 

China  I  have  seen  boys  riding  oxen  over  the  straw,  as  it  lay 
on  the  hard  ground  of  the  threshing  floor,  in  order  that  the 
feet  of  the  animals  might  tread  out  the  grain.  In  the  Red 
River  Valley  most  of  the  work  is  done  by  threshing  machines 
moved  by  steam  engines.  Each  thresher  will  hull  out  more 
than  one  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  in  a  day,  thus  doing  the 


GRAIX    ELEVATORS  l8l 

work  of  hundreds  of  oxen  or  thousands  of  clubs  or  flails. 
Our  threshers  separate  the  grain  from  the  chaff  and  straw, 
and  the  clean  wheat  flows  out  through  a  wooden  pipe  at  the 
side  so  fast  that  it  keeps  two  men  busy  holding  the  bags  in 
order  that  all  the  grain  may  be  caught.  On  some  of  the 
large  farms  the  work  of  cutting  and  threshing  is  done  at 
the  same  time  by  combined  harvester  and  thresher.  These 
great  machines  are  often  drawn  by  steam  engines,  or  by 
teams  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  horses  and  mules.  A 
single  machine  with  four  men  will  cut  and  thresh  from 
seventeen  hundred  to  three  thousand  bushels  of  wheat 
in  one  day. 

But  how  is  the  wheat  cared  for  after  leaving  the  fields  ? 

This  is  almost  as  great  a  business  as  raising  the  wheat. 
At  some  of  the  railroad  stations,  and  at  all  of  our  grain 
ports,  there  are  huge  elevators  for  storing  the  wheat  until 
it  is  wanted  for  sale. 

There  are  many  such  granaries  at  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
New  York,  and  New  Orleans  and  elsewhere,  and  especially 
at  all  the  large  cities  upon  the  Great  Lakes.  We  find  many 
of  them  at  Minneapolis,  and  learn  that  single  elevators  often 
have  storage  room  for  several  million  bushels  of  grain.  The 
elevators  at  Minneapolis  alone  can  hold  forty  million  bush 
els  at  one  time,  and  hundreds  of  train  loads  of  wheat  come 
into  the  Minneapolis  markets  in  a  single  year. 

Elevators  are  usually  built  by  the  sides  of  the  railroad 
tracks,  and  the  wheat  is  taken  from  the  cars  directly  into 
them.  Each  elevator  contains  great  bins,  some  of  which 
are  as  high  as  a  six-story  house  and  will  hold  thousands  of 
bushels  of  wheat.  The  grain  is  moved  to  the  upper  parts 
of  the  elevator  in  little  buckets  of  tin  or  zinc,  fastened  to  a 
belt,  like  those  which  raise  the  flour  in  a  mill.  The  wheat 
is  weighed  at  the  top  and  then  poured  into  the  bins.  When 

CARP.    N.    A.  —  12 


GRAIN"    ELEVATORS 


183 


it  is  taken  out,  it  flows  through  pipes  into  the  cars  or  ships 
which  are  to  carry  it  to  the  markets. 

There  are  elevators  at  the  ports  at  the  head  of  Lake 
Superior,  into  which  the  grain  is  taken  from  the  cars,  and 
later  on  poured  into  the  steamers  which  are  to  carry  it 
down  the  Great  Lakes  to  Buffalo,  whence  it  goes  through 
the  Erie  Canal  to  New  York,  to  be  shipped  to  Europe. 
Some  grain  is  loaded  on  boats  and  barges  and  shipped 
down  the  Mississippi  River ;  but  the  greater  part  goes  by 


Fails  of  St.  Anthony. 

the  lakes,  as  this  route  is  the  shortest  and  cheapest  way  to 
the  markets  of  the  East. 

Minneapolis  is  a  fine  city  of  several  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants.  It  is  situated  on  the  Mississippi,  at  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  which  furnish  a  water  power  as  great  as 


184  THE    NORTHWEST 

could  be  given  by  forty  thousand  horses,  all  pulling  at 
once.  The  situation  of  these  falls  so  near  our  wheat  lands 
has  made  Minneapolis  the  chief  milling  center  of  the 
world.  It  has  many  big  flour  mills  which  are  grinding 
away  day  and  night.  They  produce  millions  of  barrels  of 
flour  every  year,  a  single  mill  grinding  fifteen  thousand 
barrels  in  one  day. 

The  mighty  Mississippi  does  a  vast  amount  of  work  here 
besides  grinding  wheat.  It  runs  all  kinds  of  factories.  It 
operates  great  woolen  mills,  saws  vast  quantities  of  lum 
ber,  and  moves  so  much  other  machinery  that  Minneapolis 
has  become  the  manufacturing  center  of  this  part  of  our 
country. 

So  close  to  Minneapolis  that  the  two  cities  are  now 
almost  one  is  St.  Paul,  another  thriving  commercial  and 
manufacturing  center.  The  two  towns  are  called  the 
"  Twin  Cities  of  the  Northwest."  They  contain  some  of 
the  finest  business  blocks  of  our  country,  and  in  both  of 
them  we  may  ride  for  miles  through  well-paved  avenues, 
lined  with  beautiful  houses.  The  cities  almost  join,  although 
their  business  centers  are  about  ten  miles  apart.  We  can 
ride  from  one  to  the  other  in  a  few  minutes  on  electric  or 
steam  railroads. 

The  growth  of  these  two  cities  is  largely  due  to  their 
situation  in  a  rich  country  of  forests  and  farms  at  the  head 
of  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River,  close  to  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  and  to  their  nearness  to  the  head  of  navi 
gation  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Goods  may  thus  be  sent  from 
them  by  water  down  the  Mississippi,  or  after  a  short  ride 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  the  railroad,  down  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  whence  they  can  be 
carried  to  every  part  of  our  country,  and  to  the  seaports 
for  shipment  to  Europe. 


DULUTH   AND    SUPERIOR  185 


23.  A  JOURNEY  ON  THE  GREAT  LAKES 

A  SHORT  railroad  ride  from  St.  Paul  brings  us  to 
Duluth,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior.  The  city  is 
built  upon  the  sides  of  steep  and  rocky  hills  about  a  little 
harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Louis  River.  Bowlders  of 
granite  jut  out  of  the  ground  in  almost  every  lot,  and  the 
houses  are  founded  upon  the  rocks.  The  streets  rise 
from  the  wharves  in  terraces  running  backward,  so  that 
they  make  us  think  of  the  grand  stand  of  a  baseball  ground. 
Not  far  away,  to  the  right  as  we  face  the  lake,  we  can  see 
the  immense  elevators  of  Superior  city ;  and  the  many 
vessels  in  the  harbor  show  us  that  we  are  at  the  head  of 
the  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

Look  at  that  steamboat  lying  under  the  shadow  of  the 
huge  wheat  elevator  down  there  near  the  wharves.  You 
have  never  seen  a  boat  like  it  before.  It  resembles  an 
enormous  barrel  as  it  lies  there  in  the  water,  making  one 
think  of  some  sea  monster  or  giant  whale.  Still,  the  steam 
is  puffing  out  of  the  pipes  at  its  prow,  and  volumes  of  black 
smoke  are  flowing  out  of  its  huge  stack  at  the  stern.  That 
is  one  of  the  famous  whaleback  steamships  which  carry 
iron  ore  and  grain  from  Duluth  down  the  Great  Lakes. 
It  is  now  loading  wheat.  We  can  see  the  grain  pouring 
into  its  hold  from  the  pipes  which  run  down  into  it  from 
the  elevator.  Thousands  of  bushels  will  be  thus  stored 
away  within  a  few  hours,  and  the  load  it  will  carry  will  be 
more  than  could  be  hauled  by  a  train  of  two-horse  wagons 
ten  miles  in  length. 

At  the  same  wharf  are  other  ships  which  transport  thou 
sands  of  bushels  of  wheat  at  a  load ;  and  moving  about 
in  the  harbor  are  immense  grain  barges,  pulled  by  smaller 


i86 


THE    GREAT   LAKES 


steamers,  one  little  steamboat  dragging  a  long  line  of  bigger 
boats  behind  it. 

The  chain  of  Great  Lakes  forms  one  of  the  chief  com 
mercial  highways  of  the  globe.  The  upper  lakes  are  frozen 
during  the  winter,  and  for  five  months  they  are  almost 
as  deserted  as  the  icy  seas  about  the  north  pole.  It  is 
only  in  the  seven  warmer  months  that  ships  can  navigate 
them ;  but  in  that  time  more  freight  is  carried  upon  them 
than  is  brought  into  Liverpool  or  London  in  a  whole  year. 


A  Monster  Ore  Steamer. 

Throughout  the  summer,  day  and  night,  there  moves  over 
this  great  waterway  an  almost  endless  fleet  of  steel  steam 
ships,  white-winged  sailboats,  massive  barges,  monster 
ore  boats,  and  magnificent  passenger  steamers,  carrying 
thousands  of  people  and  millions  of  tons  of  freight  to  and 
fro.  There  are  ships  which  take  nothing  but  iron  ore  from 
the  mines  about  Lake  Superior,  down  to  Cleveland,  Chicago, 


THE    BASIN    OF    THE    LAKES 


I87 


and  other  ports.  There  are  ships  loaded  with  copper  from 
the  mines  of  the  Michigan  peninsula,  and  vast  rafts  of 
lumber  from  the  pine  forests  of  the  upper  lakes. 

Were  it  not  for  these  lakes,  it  would  be  far  more  difficult 
to  transport  our  immense  harvests  of  grain  to  the  seaboard. 
That  vessel  now  loading  will  steam  out  with  its  cargo  of 


Ore  Docks  at  Duluth. 

seventy  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  to  Buffalo,  or  it  may 
even  pass  through  the  Welland  Canal  and  go  on  down 
through  Lake  Ontario  into  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  where 
another  ship  will  carry  the  grain  out  across  the  Atlantic  to 
Europe.  There  is  a  navigable  waterway  from  Duluth  to 
the  sea,  and  if  the  destination  of  our  wheat  is  Liverpool,  it 
will  travel  more  than  half  of  its  voyage  in  fresh  water  be 
fore  it  gets  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  at  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle. 


1 88  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

The  journey  is  made  so  cheaply  that  for  a  few  cents 
a  bushel  of  wheat  can  'be  taken  to  Buffalo,  and  for  thirty 
cents  or  less  a  ton  of  coal  can  be  brought  in  the  same  ship 
back  to  Duluth.  The  cost  of  transporting  goods  by  water 
is  less  than  half  that  of  carrying  them  on  the  railroads. 
It  is  this  fact  that  has  caused  many  towns  and  cities  to 
spring  up  at  the  good  harbors  along  the  Great  Lakes,  and 
at  the  channels  between  them  ;  and  it  is  due  to  cheap 
freights  that  many  other  cities  owe  much  of  their  wealth. 

But  before  we  go  farther,  I  must  tell  you  a  curious  thing 
about  the  valley  or  basin  in  which  these  vast  fresh-water 


Diagram  showing  the  Lake  Terraces. 

seas  lie.  It  is  situated  near  the  Height  of  Land,  on  the 
crown  of  the  eastern  part  of  our  continent,  so  that  on  the 
north  just  over  the  rim  of  the  basin  the  ground  slopes 
toward  Hudson  Bay,  and  on  the  south  toward  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  rim  of  the  basin  of  the  Great  Lakes  is  not 
high,  and  canals  have  been  cut  from  Lake  Erie  south  to 
the  Ohio  River,  so  that  freight  from  the  Great  Lakes  can 
be  sent  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  A  canal  is  also  being  opened 
from  the  lower  end  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  the  Erie  Canal  takes  vast  quantities  of  freight 
from  Lake  Erie  at  Buffalo  across  New  York  to  the  Hudson 
River,  whence  it  goes  down  to  the  Atlantic  at  New  York 
city.  It  is  said  that  men  can  sail  in  canoes  up  the  streams 
flowing  from  the  north  into  Lake  Superior,  and,  by  carry- 


ST.   MARYS    FALLS    CANAL  189 

ing  their  boats  a  short  distance,  can  drop  them  into  streams 
which  flow  into  Hudson  Bay. 

Another  remarkable  thing  about  the  basin  of  the  Great 
Lakes  is  its  shape.  It  is  formed  of  three  terraces,  lying 
one  above  the  other.  The  top  terrace  is  Lake  Superior, 
the  level  of  which  is  six  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  From 
Lake  Superior  to  the  second  terrace  there  is  a  drop  of 
about  twenty  feet,  and  there  we  find  the  level  of  Lakes 
Huron,  Michigan,  and  Erie.  The  third  drop,  by  the  Falls 
of  Niagara  to  the  level  of  Lake  Ontario,  is  much  greater, 
and  from  there  the  ground  slopes  down  through  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  sea. 

But  how  do  the  great  ships  get  from  one  of  these  ter 
races  to  the  other  ? 

They  cannot  go  from  Lake  Ontario  up  the  swift  Ni 
agara  River,  and  climb  the  falls;  nor  can  they  possibly 
make  their  way  up  the  raging,  rocky  rapids  of  the  St. 
Marys,  over  which  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior  foam  as 
they  rush  on  toward  Lake  Huron.  No  ;  that  is  plainly 
impossible.  The  vessels  must  be  lifted  from  one  level  to 
another  through  ship  canals.  Such  canals  have  been  built 
between  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie,  and  around  the 
Falls  of  the  St.  Marys  between  Lake  Huron  and  Lake 
Superior.  In  these  canals,  by  means  of  locks,  the  heavy 
boats  are  lowered  from  one  terrace  to  the  other.  More 
over,  they  are  lowered,  step  by  step,  by  other  locks 
through  other  canals,  past  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
until  at  last,  having  dropped  from  a  height  greater  than 
that  of  the  Washington  Monument,  they  float  on  to  the  At 
lantic  Ocean.  It  is  by  means  of  the  same  locks  that  they 
climb  back  again,  vessels  weighing  thousands  of  tons  being 
lifted  up  and  down. 

We    shall    sail   from    Lake    Superior   down    into    Lake 


THE   GREAT   LAKES 


Huron,  and  see  how  this  is  done.  We  are  on  a  mighty 
steamer  loaded  with  iron  ore.  It  is  floating  on  Lake 
Superior,  and  must  be  let  down  to  the  level  of  Lake 
Huron,  which  is  twenty  feet  lower. 

This  will  be  accomplished  while  passing  through  the 
St.  Marys  Falls  Canal,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  known,  the 
"  Soo "  Canal,  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  its  kind  in 


Lock  —  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal. 

the  world.  It  is  about  ten  miles  in  length,  and  it  forms 
a  waterway  around  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Marys  River. 
Every  seven  months  more  than  ten  thousand  vessels  pass 
through  it,  and  by  it  all  are  raised  or  lowered  over  this  step 
twenty  feet  high  between  the  two  lakes. 

We  steam  for  some  distance  through  the  canal,  until 
at  last  we  pass  between  two  stone  walls  as  high  as  a  three- 
story  house.  They  do  not  seem  so  high  to  us,  for  our 
ship  floats  between  them  on  the  top  of  the  water,  which 
is  now  at  the  level  of  Lake  Superior.  We  are  in  one  of 
the  locks  of  the  "  Soo  "  Canal.  The  upper  deck  of  the 
steamer  is  far  above  the  walls,  and  from  it  we  can  see,  not 


ST.    MARYS    FALLS    CAXAL  191 

far  away  to  the  left,  the  raging  St.  Marys  River,  which 
roars  and  froths  as  it  tumbles  down  the  rapids. 

The  water  in  the  lock  is  as  calm  as  a  mill  pond.  It  is 
held  back  by  two  water-tight  gates  of  wood  and  iron.  As 
our  ship  comes  to  rest,  we  step  off  upon  the  walls  of  the 
lock,  and  walk  to  the  gates,  over  which  we  can  look  down 
into  the  canal,  where  it  opens  into  the  smooth  expanse  of 
the  river  below  the  rapids.  The  water  there  is  twenty 
feet  lower  than  that  in  the  lock.  If  the  gates  were 
opened,  our  ship  would  be  hurled  clown  by  the  great 
rush  of  the  waters.  By  means  of  the  lock  it  will  be 
lowered  so  gently  that,  did  we  shut  our  eyes,  we  could 
hardly  tell  we  were  sinking. 

How  is  this  done  ? 

The  water  itself,  aided  by  a  steam  engine,  performs  the 
work.  At  the  entrance  of  the  lock  are  two  gates  like 
those  before  us.  They  have  been  closed  by  the  engine, 
keeping  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior  back  for  the  time, 
while  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  lock  are  two  other  gates 
which  keep  the  water  from  flowing  out  and  on  to  Lake 
Huron.  Our  ship  is  now  in  a  great  box  of  water,  whose 
surface  is  on  the  level  of  Lake  Superior.  The  engineer 
moves  another  lever,  and  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  box  are 
opened.  The  water  gradually  flows  out,  and  the  great 
ship  sinks  down  with  it  until  it  is  on  the  level  of  the  canal 
below.  Now  the  front  gates  are  opened,  and  we  can  steam 
on  our  way  as  easily  as  though  there  had  been  no  big  step 
to  climb  down.  The  waters  of  St.  Marys  River  for  the 
remaining  fifty  miles  of  its  course  are  on  the  same  level  as 
those  of  Lake  Huron. 

There  are  two  canals  around  the  St.  Marys  Falls,  one  of 
which  is  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the  river.  There  are 
twenty-six  locks  in  the  Welland  Ship  Canal  about  Niagara 


192 


THE    GREAT   LAKES 


Falls,  for  the  step  from  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario  is  more 
than  fifteen  times  as  high  as  that  between  Lakes  Huron 
and  Superior.  So  the  ships  are  lifted  up  or  down  a  little 
at  a  time,  until  they  have  passed  through  that  canal, 
which  is  twenty-six  miles  long.  There  are  other  locks  on 
the  canals  about  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence  still  lower 
down,  and  there  are  many  smaller  locks  in  the  Erie  Canal 
between  Buffalo  and  the  Hudson  River. 


24.    THE   IRON  AND   COPPER   MINES  OF  LAKE 
SUPERIOR 

BEFORE    leaving    Lake    Superior,  we    must  visit   the 
iron    and    copper    regions  which    are    found   not  far 
from  its  shores.     The  wealth  of  the  United  States  is  not 
in  its  good  soil  alone. 

A  vast  part  of  our  riches  comes  from  minerals.  We  are 
now  producing  more  iron  and  copper  than  any  other  coun 
try,  and  in  some  years 
about  one  half  of  all  the 
iron  manufactured  in  the 
world,  and  more  than 
half  of  all  the  copper 
mined,  comes  from  the 
United  States.  For  a 
long  time  Great  Britain 

The  iron  Regions.  was  the  chief  iron-  and 

steel-making  nation,  but 

now  the  United  States  is  far  ahead  of  her  and  all  of  the 
others.     We  also  lead  in  our  production  of  coal,  and  it  is 


IX    AX   IROX    MINE  193 

our  iron  and  coal  which  make  us  the  world's  chief  manu 
facturing  nation.  Our  supplies  of  these  materials  are  so 
vast  that  the  United  States  must  grow  richer  and  richer 
as  they  are  developed. 

No  other  grand  division  has  such  extensive  beds  of  iron 
ore  as  North  America,  although  Europe  has  large  mines, 
and  Asia  and  South  America  are  supposed  to  contain  rich 
but  undeveloped  iron  regions.  Some  iron  is  found  in  the 
West  Indies,  Central  America,  Mexico,  and  Canada.  In 
our  own  country  it  exists  almost  everywhere.  It  is  mined 
in  twenty-six  different  states  and  territories.  There  are 
vast  beds  of  it  in  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Virginia,  and 
northwestern  Georgia ;  and  Pennsylvania  for  a  long  time 
was  our  chief  source  of  supply.  New  York,  New  Jer 
sey,  and  Ohio  all  produce  iron,  and  Texas,  Utah,  and 
Wyoming  have  extensive  iron  deposits.  Our  richest  beds 
of  this  ore,  however,  are  about  Lake  Superior,  and  the 
greater  part  of  our  iron  now  comes  from  them.  Many 
of  our  large  manufacturing  cities  rely  upon  this  region  for 
all  the  iron  they  use,  and  a  fleet  of  fast  steamers  is  kept 
busy  carrying  the  ore  down  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  fur 
naces  where  it  is  made  into  the  iron  of  commerce.  The 
chief  article  of  freight  upon  the  lakes  is  iron  ore  ;  although, 
as  we  have  seen,  wheat,  lumber,  and  other  things  by  the 
thousands  of  tons  are  carried  on  them. 

Iron  is  never  found  pure  in  a  state  of  nature.  As  it  lies 
in  the  earth,  it  is  in  veins  or  pockets,  walled  about  with 
rock,  and  so  mixed  with  stone  that  you  cannot  dig  out  a 
piece  of  iron  that  is  perfectly  pure.  It  is  only  by  melting 
the  ore  with  limestone,  in  a  peculiar  way  called  smelting, 
that  we  can  get  the  iron  out  of  the  rock  in  which  it  is  mixed. 

Now  smelting  requires  good  coal.  But  there  are  no 
good  coal  fields  within  hundreds  of  miles  of  Lake  Superior. 


194  THE    GREAT   LAKES 

The  iron  can  be  taken  to  the  coal  more  cheaply  than  the 
coal  can  be  brought  to  the  iron.  So  the  heavy  ore  is  carried 
down  through  the  Great  Lakes  to  Detroit,  Toledo,  Cleve 
land,  Buffalo,  Pittsburgh,  Chicago,  and  other  points,  to 
which  the  coal  can  be  cheaply  transported.  At  these  cities 
the  coal  and  iron  are  easily  brought  together,  and  hence 
we  find  them  large  manufacturing  points. 

Let  me  tell  you  something  about  these  mines  of  the  Lake 
Superior  region.  They  lie  south  and  west  of  the  lake,  in 
five  little  ranges  of  mountains.  The  best  of  them  are  from 
fifteen  to  one  hundred  miles  back  from  the  water,  on  the 
mountains,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  higher  than  the  level 
of  the  lake.  Here  there  are  great  steam  engines,  for 
pumping  the  water  out  of  the  mines,  for  hoisting  and 
transporting  the  ore  and  for  compressing  the  air  which 
drives  the  long  steel  drills  into  the  rocks,  so  that  dynamite 
candles  can  be  inserted  and  the  huge  pieces  of  ironstone 
blasted  down.  In  some  mines  steam  shovels  are  used  to 
strip  off  the  earth  and  to  work  some  kinds  of  ore.  These 
shovels  load  the  ore  directly  upon  the  cars,  and  one  has 
loaded  at  the  rate  of  more  than  six  thousand  tons  per  day. 
The  shovels  are  each  operated  by  five  men,  and  they  work 
so  cheaply  that  the  labor  cost  of  mining  is  only  a  few  cents 
per  ton. 

But  suppose  we  go  down  into  one  of  these  big  iron  mines. 
We  enter  the  shaft,  and  upon  a  little  ore  car  slide  more 
than  a  thousand  feet  down  an  inclined  plane  into  a  net 
work  of  tunnels.  There  are  electric  lights  everywhere, 
and  it  is  almost  as  bright  as  day.  Now  and  then  we  hear 
the  boom  !  boom  !  boom  !  of  the  blasting  going  on  in  other 
parts  of  the  mine.  The  sound  shakes  the  air,  and  we  fear 
lest  the  walls  may  fall  down.  All  about  us  are  sooty-faced 
men,  who  lift  up  the  great  pieces  of  iron  ore  and  throw 


(195) 


196  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

them  into  little  steel  cars  in  which,  moved  by  machinery, 
they  go  to  the  surface. 

Now  we  are  again  at  the  top.  A  car  loaded  with  ore 
comes  close  behind  us.  Let  us  wait  and  go  with  it,  and 
see  how  the  ore  is  put  in  the  ship.  The  slope  of  the  rail 
road  from  the  mines  to  the  lakes  is  such  that  the  cars  run 
down  by  their  own  weight. 

The  railroad  track  is  built  upon  a  steel  trestlework 
almost  a  quarter  of  a  mile  out  into  the  lake.  It  is  high 
above  the  water.  Near  the  end  of  the  trestlework  are 
many  big  pockets,  or  bins,  into  which  the  ore  is  dumped 
from  the  cars.  The  bins  are  so  high  over  the  water  that 
the  steamers  can  sail  right  under  them,  and  the  ore  is 
dropped  into  the  holds  of  the  steamers.  In  this  way 
thousands  of  tons  of  iron  can  be  loaded  within  a  few  hours. 

Our  car  goes  rushing  down  this  track.  It  thunders  out 
over  the  trestlework,  and  we  see  the  red-and-brown  iron 
stone  dropped  into  the  bin.  As  we  look,  an  ore  steamer 
approaches,  and  a  few  hours  later  the  iron  is  on  its  way 
to  the  furnaces.  Could  we  follow  it,  we  should  see  it 
dumped  out  on  other  great  piles  of  ore,  on  the  wharves  of 
Cleveland  or  some  other  lake  city.  A  few  days  later  it 
will  be  in  an  iron  foundry,  and  may  come  out  as  a  steel  rail 
for  one  of  the  trunk  lines  across  the  great  plains. 

It  is  said  that  the  richest  copper  mines  of  Lake -Superior 
were  discovered  by  a  pig.  These  mines  are  situated  in 
the  upper  part  of  Michigan  on  the  Keweenaw  Peninsula, 
which  juts  out  into  the  lake.  This  peninsula  is  barren  and 
rocky.  It  is  not  good  farming  land ;  but  its  rich  copper 
beds  have  caused  cities  to  be  built,  and  there  are  now  thou 
sands  of  people  living  there.  According  to  the  story,  a  pig 
had  strayed  from  the  drove  to  which  it  belonged,  and 
fallen  into  a  pit.  In  trying  to  root  its  way  out,  it  uncovered 


THE   COPPER    REGIONS  197 

a  huge  mass  of  copper,  and  showed  the  world  the  site  of 
one  of  the  best  of  such  mines  that  had  yet  been  discovered. 
Vast  fortunes  have  been  made  out  of  it,  and  several  thou 
sand  men  are  now  at  work  day  and  night,  getting  out  the 
ore  which  lies  buried  there. 

This  is  the  famous  Calumet  and  Hecla  copper  mine.  It 
is  in  a  slice  of  rock  varying  in  width  from  ten  to  fifteen 
feet,  going  down,  down  into  the  earth.  The  rock  is 
streaked  and  veined  with  almost  pure  copper.  Some  bits 
of  the  ore  are  so  pure  that  they  might  almost  be  hammered 
into  pennies,  and  one  twentieth  of  the  whole  mass  is  copper. 

There  are  many  other  mines  in  the  Lake  Superior  region, 
but-none  so  rich  as  this.  The  Red  Jacket  shaft  is  almost 
a  mile  deep,  and  they  are  now  working  more  than  a  half 
mile  below  the  surface.  Enormous  steam  engines  haul 
up  the  steel  cars  filled  with  ore  mixed  with  rock,  each  car 
holding  what  would  be  a  load  for  four  horses.  The  ore  is 
taken  from  the  mines  to  the  stamping  mills  not  far  away, 
and  is  there  crushed  into  powder,  so  that  the  stone  can 
be  washed  from  the  copper. 

Copper,  unlike  iron,  is  often  found  in  a  pure  state.  It 
seldom  combines  with  other  minerals,  although  silver  is 
sometimes  mixed  with  it.  The  copper  of  Lake  Superior 
is  often  found  in  solid  masses,  some  of  which  weigh  as 
much  as  five  hundred  tons.  Such  masses  are  broken  up 
when  possible,  and  the  pieces  are  put  into  barrels  and 
shipped  down  the  lakes  for  smelting. 

There  are  smelting  furnaces  not  far  from  the  mines,  and 
we  visit  one  to  see  the  copper  ore  turned  into  bricks.  The 
ore  mixed  with  coal  and  limestone  is  put  into  the  furnace, 
and  the  intense  heat  soon  causes  the  whole  to  become  one 
seething  mass.  Now  a  hole  at  the  bottom  of  the  furnace 
is  opened,  and  a  reddish  golden  stream  flows  out.  How 
CARP.  N.  A.  — 13 


198  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

hot  it  is !  The  molten  copper  is  so  bright  that  it  dazzles 
our  eyes.  It  makes  us  think  of  the  sun  when  it  sets  like 
a  great  round  red  ball  of  fire  in  the  sky. 

As  the  copper  flows  out  of  the  furnace,  it  is  caught  in 
kettle-like  cars  and  carried,  bubbling  and  blazing,  to  a 
set  of  iron  molds  of  a  brick  shape  fastened  to  a  frame  at 
the  edge  of  a  trough  full  of  water.  The  golden  liquid  is 
poured  into  the  molds.  It  hardens  almost  as  soon  as  it 
touches  the  iron,  and  the  molds  are  then  so  turned  that 
the  metal,  now  in  the  shape  of  bricks,  falls  into  the  trough. 
The  water  soon  cools  the  hot  copper.  Each  brick  weighs 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds.  It  is  about  two 
feet  long,  six  inches  wide,  and  four  inches  thick.  It  is  the 
color  of  a  polished  copper  kettle,  and  is  now  ready  to  be 
made  into  wire,  or  used  for  the  making  of  brass  and 
bronze  and  in  electrical  machines. 

Even  greater  in  extent  and  value  than  these  copper 
deposits  of  Lake  Superior  are  those  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  plateau  in  certain  states  of  our  West.  Arizona  and 
Montana  now  produce  more  copper  than  Michigan.  Each 
of  these  states  has  mines  which  are  yielding  several  hun 
dred  million  pounds  every  year.  Utah  and  Nevada,  and 
also  Alaska,  California,  New  Mexico,  Colorado,  and  Idaho 
have  extensive  copper  regions,  although  not  so  rich  as 
those  mentioned  above. 

25.    LIFE    IN    THE    LUMBER    REGIONS 

OUR  travels  for  the  next  few  days  are  to  be  in  the  woods. 
Some  of  our  forests  are  found  near  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  not  many  years  since  we  might  have  traveled  about  here 
in  any  direction  for  hundreds  of  miles  and  seen  nothing 


THE   FORESTS  199 

but  pines  and  other  tall  trees.  For  some  time  after  the 
United  States  was  discovered,  almost  all  the  land  between 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Mississippi  River  was  covered 
with  pines,  spruce,  hemlock,  oaks,  maples,  beeches,  and 
other  trees.  There  was  a  vast  region  of  pines  which  began 
in  Maine  and  extended  to  far  beyond  where  we  now  are, 


Lumbering. 

and  south  of  that  a  region  of  hard  woods,  which  covered 
almost  the  whole  of  our  eastern  and  central  states.  There 
were  so  many  trees  that  no  one  thought  of  saving  them, 
and  the  settlers  cut  them  down  as  fast  as  they  could  to 
make  farms.  They  piled  them  up  where  they  fell  and 
burned  them.  This  went  on  for  years,  and  many  thousand 
square  miles  of  our  most  valuable  forests  were  wasted. 
We  have,  however,  much  timber  left.  Almost  one 


200  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

third  of  our  land  is  still  covered  with  woods.  We  have 
seen  some  of  them  during  our  travels  through  the  pine  and 
cypress  regions  along  the  south  Atlantic  coast  and  the 
lower  Mississippi.  There  are  trees  of  other  varieties  grow 
ing  in  the  valleys  of  the  principal  rivers,  and  the  forest 
strip,  which  is  more  or  less  cut  here  and  there,  extends  on 
until  it  is  lost  in  the  open  plains  of  western  Texas.  North 
of  that  runs  a  treeless  region  once  known  as  the  Great 
Plains,  which  extends  westward  to  the  foot  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

On  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau  are  many  fine  trees ; 
and  west  of  it  is  the  great  Pacific  coast  forest,  said  to  be 
the  most  densely  timbered  region  on  earth.  As  we  travel 
through  California,  we  shall  see  some  of  this  forest  in  the 
big  trees,  which  are  taller  and  thicker  than  any  others 
known  to  man ;  and  in  that  state  and  in  Oregon  and 
Washington,  shall  travel  through  the  monster  redwoods  so 
tall  that  they  seem  almost  to  reach  the  sky. 

In  all  these  forest  regions  the  trees  are  rapidly  falling. 
Within  the  past  generation,  the  United  States  government 
forest  inspectors  estimate  that  enough  have  been  cut  to 
make  a  floor  an  inch  thick  over  the  states  of  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  Delaware  ; 
and  our  Bureau  of  Forestry  tells  us  that  if  more  trees  are 
not  planted,  and  this  cutting  goes  on  at  the  same  rate  as 
now,  within  not  many  years  our  forests  will  all  disappear. 

The  thought  makes  us  tremble,  and  we  wonder  how  in 
the  world  we  could  get  on  without  wood.  It  forms  the 
greater  part  of  our  houses,  and  the  most  of  our  furniture. 
It  bridges  our  rivers  and  timbers  our  mines,  and  holds  fast 
the  railroad  tracks,  for  which  alone  we  consume  every 
year  more  than  one  hundred  million  ties.  Wood  is  used 
largely  in  car  and  ship  building.  Ground  to  a  pulp,  it 


THE   FORESTS  2OI 

makes  the  paper  which  covers  the  walls  of  our  houses,  and 
also  that  of  our  daily  journals  and  magazines,  and  even  of 
this  book  we  are  reading.  There  are  so  many  uses  of  wood 
that  we  cannot  mention  them  all. 

Moreover,  there  is  another  value  our  forests  possess. 
They  cover  the  hills  and  mountains,  and  their  roots  act 
like  so  many  sponges  to  keep  the  water  flow  steady. 
When  cut  away,  the  water  that  falls  as  rain  rushes  down 
all  at  once,  carrying  the  soil  into  the  streams  and  destroy 
ing  the  fertility  of  the  land. 

For  these  reasons  our  government  is  advising  the  people 
everywhere  to  plant  trees,  and  it  has  set  aside  almost  two 
hundred  million  acres  of  woodlands  in  various  parts  of 
the  United  States  as  national  forests.  These  forests  are 
scattered  over  our  western  country  from  Alaska  to  Mexico, 
and  are  located  mostly  on  the  great  western  plateau  and 
in  the  Pacific  coast  states.  In  addition,  some  of  the  states 
are  reserving  large  tracts,  the  trees  upon  which  may  not 
be  cut  except  in  such  a  way  as  will  not  injure  the  forests. 

As  we  proceed  with  our  travels,  we  shall  observe  for  our 
selves  how  necessary  it  is  to  improve  our  lumber  resources 
by  replanting  the  trees  and  by  seeing  that  they  are  not 
wasted.  The  industry  of  getting  out  the  lumber  alone 
employs  several  hundred  thousand  men,  to  whom  are  paid 
wages  of  more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars  a  year,  the 
product  being  annually  worth  many  times  that  amount. 
Right  here  about  Lake  Superior  the  forests  are  still  so 
dense  that  one  might  get  lost  in  them,  and  travel  for  weeks 
without  finding  his  way  out. 

As  we  sailed  up  the  Mississippi  from  St.  Louis  to  St. 
Paul,  we  passed  thousands  of  logs  floating  down  toward 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  They  had  come  from  the  forests  of 
Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  had  been  hauled  over  the  snow 


202  THE    GREAT   LAKES 

to  the  rivers  and  smaller  streams  which  flow  into  the 
Mississippi,  and  were  on  their  way  to  the  markets.  As 
we  go  on  down  through  the  Great  Lakes,  we  shall  meet 
other  log  rafts  towed  by  steamers  ;  and  at  many  of  the 
ports  shall  hear  the  scream  of  the  gang-and-band  saws  as 
they  cut  the  logs  into  boards. 

Lumbering  in  the  Great  Lakes  region  can  be  carried  on 
best  when  the  snow  is  on  the  ground.  The  felling  of  the 
trees  is  by  men  who  go  into  the  woods  in  the  fall  and 
remain  there  all  winter.  They  build  big  log  cabins,  filling 
the  cracks  between  the  logs  with  mud  and  sod.  Often 
fifty  men  will  live  in  one  large  cabin.  They  sleep  in  bunks, 
built  along  the  walls,  and  eat  at  a  common  table,  using 
tin  plates  and  other  dishes  which  will  not  easily  break. 
They  take  enough  provisions  with  them  to  last  all  winter, 
and  the  bill  of  fare  of  pork  and  beans,  canned  meats,  and 
hot  bread  is  often  varied  by  a  venison  stew  or  bear  steak 
from  game  shot  upon  the  ground. 

In  chopping,  everything  is  done  according  to  system. 
A  man  known  as  the  underchopper  first  goes  through  the 
forest  and  marks  those  trees  which  will  make  the  best 
lumber.  Then  come  the  sawyers  and  choppers  who  fell 
the  trees.  They  first  make  a  cut  about  each  tree  with  a 
long  saw,  which  is  pulled  back  and  forth  by  two  men  at 
the  ends.  Then  the  men  with  the  axes  chop  above  and 
beyond  the  saw  cut  until  at  last  the  giant  of  the  forest  falls 
with  a  crash  to  the  ground.  The  limbs  must  now  be 
trimmed  off  and  the  tree  sawed  into  logs. 

The  next  thing  is  to  get  the  logs  to  the  stream.  This  is 
done  on  sledges,  pulled  by  two  or  more  horses  over  a  road 
of  snow  or  ice.  Such  roads  are  so  slippery  that  the  horses 
can  haul  over  them  many  times  as  much  as  they  could  on  a 
common  road  with  a  wagon.  Sometimes  a  load  of  logs  big 


LUMBERING 


20; 


enough  to  fill  an  ordinary  bedroom  from  floor  to  ceiling 
is  thus  carried  down  to  the  river.  The  first  thing  is  mak 
ing  the  road.  After  the  snow  has  been  well  beaten  down, 
a  sprinkling  machine  is  used ;  and  the  water,  freezing  as  it 


A  Big  Load  of  Logs, 

falls,  forms  a  wide  path  of  ice,  over  which  the  heavy  logs 
can  be  easily  hauled. 

The  streams  of  this  region  are  frozen  most  of  the  winter, 
and  the  logs  are  rolled  off  upon  the  ice,  so  that  for  a  long 
distance  the  whole  stream  is  bridged  with  them.  The  ice  is 
several  feet  thick,  and  does  not  break  under  the  great 
weight. 

In  the  spring  the  thaws  come,  the  streams  rise,  and  the 
freshets  which  follow  carry  the  logs  down  to  the  lakes,  or 
to  the  Mississippi  or  other  rivers. 


204  THE   GREAT   LAKES 

Several  men  go  with  each  "  drive  "  of  logs,  in  order  to 
keep  it  moving  and  to  prevent  the  logs  from  being  scat 
tered.  The  men  are  always  watching  to  see  that  no  logs 
lodge  on  stones  or  against  the  banks,  for  then  those  com 
ing  behind  would  be  stopped  and  cause  a  jam.  The  men 
jump  from  log  to  log;  and  in  order  to  give  them  a  sure 
footing  the  soles  of  their  boots  are  covered  with  sharp 

nails.  They  have  long 
poles  which  end  in  hooks 
and  spikes,  and  with 
them  they  push  and 
pull  the  logs  this  way 
and  that.  When  a  jam 
occurs,  the  logs  pile 
one  on  top  of  another, 

A  "  Drive  "  of  Logs.  i  vi  • 

and  act  more  like  ani 
mals  than  wood.  Some  dive  under  the  jam,  some  stand 
on  end  against  it,  and  others  climb  upon  the  top.  After 
a  while  they  become  so  wedged  together  that  one  would 
think  they  could  not  be  taken  apart.  The  logger,  how 
ever,  goes  with  his  pike  to  the  front  of  the  jam,  and  inch 
by  inch  pulls  out  the  logs  forming  the  keystone,  as  it  were, 
and  then  the  whole  mass  comes  tumbling  down  into  the 
river. 

Every  gang  of  loggers  has  its  own  cook,  who  calls  the 
men  to  meals  by  blowing  upon  a  tin  horn.  Sometimes 
cabins  are  built  upon  rafts,  which  are  floated  down  the 
river  behind  the  logs,  and  in  such  cabins  the  cooking  is 
done,  and  there  the  men  sleep  at  night. 

In  others  of  our  lumber  regions  the  logs  are  carried  to 
the  streams  upon  railroads,  and  they  are  sometimes  loaded 
by  a  steam  engine,  to  which  is  fastened  a  rope  of  steel  as 
thick  as  a  broom  handle  and  a  mile  or  more  long.  This 


DETROIT  205 

rope  is  wrapped  about  a  log  as  it  lies  in  the  forest.  The 
engine  is  then  started,  and  it  winds  up  the  rope,  thus  drag 
ging  the  log  to  the  cars. 

Lake  Michigan  has  many  sawmills  upon  its  shores,  in 
which  logs  are  cut  into  lumber  ready  to  be  shipped  on 
boats  down  the  lakes.  Some  of  the  mills  have  what  are 
known  as  gang  saws,  a  number  of  saws  moving  up  and 
down  through  a  log,  cutting  the  whole  into  boards  at  one 
time.  Others  use  the  band  saw,  a  wide  belt  of  steel  with 
teeth  on  one  edge.  This  moves  like  a  band  of  leather 
upon  two  great  wheels,  one  high  above  the  other.  As  the 
steel  belt  runs  round,  the  teeth  in  the  front  of  it  saw 
through  the  logs,  so  that  boards  are  thus  made  faster  than 
even  the  gang  saws  can  cut  them. 

In  all  of  these  establishments  a  large  part  of  the  refuse 
is  turned  into  shingles ;  the  bark  and  sawdust  are  used  for 
fuel,  and  all  is  so  managed  that  hardly  a  particle  of  the  tree 
goes  to  waste. 


26.    OUR   GREAT    CITIES    ON    THE    LAKES 

AS  we  steam  on  down  to  Buffalo  through  Lake  Superior, 
Lake  Huron,  and  Lake  Erie,  we  stop  at  some  of  the 
large  cities  which  have  risen  upon  their  shores  because  of 
the  cheap  transportation  they  give  to  manufacturing  and 
commerce.  As  we  leave  Lake  Huron  and  sail  through 
the  green  expanse  known  as  the  St.  Clair  Flats  into  the 
narrow  Detroit  River,  we  pass  some  ships  carrying  lumber 
and  iron  to  the  eastward  and  others  loaded  with  coal  going 
west.  During  the  open-lake  season  the  vessels  in  this 
river  are  so  many  that  they  form  a  great  caravan  of 


206  THE    GREAT   LAKES 

steamers  which  moves  along  day  and  night.  Thirty  or 
forty  thousand  vessels  pass  through  every  year  on  their 
way  to  and  from  Lakes  Erie  and  Huron,  and  they  carry 
sixty  or  seventy  million  tons  of  freight  in  that  time.  The 
commerce  is  so  great  that  on  the  average  a  vessel  of  some 
kind  passes  the  city  of  Detroit  every  seven  and  a  half 
minutes  during  the  season. 

Detroit  is  the  largest  city  of  Michigan.  It  lies  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  river  at  a  natural  crossing  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  so  that  it  has  become  a 
center  of  trade  between  the  two  countries.  Moreover,  it 
is  so  situated  that  goods  can  be  shipped  from  it  by  rail 
and  water  to  all  parts  of  our  Union.  We  therefore  find 
here  large  wholesale  establishments ;  and  on  account  of 
the  cheap  coal,  wood,  and  iron,  car  shops,  foundries,  steel 
works,  and  factories  for  making  furniture  and  other  things 
out  of  wood.  Detroit  produces  automobiles  and  carriages, 
candies  and  drugs,  as  well  as  many  of  the  stoves  which 
we  use  for  cooking  and  warming  our  houses. 

The  city  has  beautiful  residences,  and  we  enjoy  our 
walks  through  Woodward  and  Jefferson  avenues  under  the 
shade  of  their  magnificent  maples  and  elms.  We  take  the 
ferry  and  cross  over  the  river  to  Windsor  in  Canada  to  see 
how  it  feels  to  have  one's  feet  on  foreign  soil;  and  then 
return  to  complete  our  travels  in  the  United  States  before 
making  further  explorations  of  that  country. 

From  Detroit  it  is  but  a  few  hours'  ride  to  Toledo,  a 
large  and  prosperous  city  at  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie. 
Farther  on,  about  the  middle  of  the  southern  shore  of  that 
lake,  is  the  great  port  of  Cleveland,  celebrated  for  its  manu 
factures  of  coal  oil,  iron,  ships  for  the  lake  trade,  and  all 
kinds  of  machinery.  The  city  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Cuyahoga  River,  and  as  we  sail  in  we  pass  enormous 


CLEVELAND 


20' 


docks  piled  high  with  iron  ore  brought  down  from  Lake 
Superior. 

Cleveland  is  one  of  the  chief  iron-ore  markets  of  the 
world.  The  mines  we  have  visited  along  Lake  Superior 
were  largely  developed  by  Cleveland  men,  and  many  of  the 
steamers  which  carry  the  ore  down  the  lakes  are  built  in 
Cleveland.  The  rich  coal  fields  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania 
are  not  far  from  this  point,  and  therefore  we  see  that  Cleve 
land  can  easily  have  the  cheap  coal  and  iron,  which,  to- 


A  Park  Scene  in  Cleveland. 

gether  with  its  water  transportation,  help  so  much  to  make 
it  a  thriving  manufacturing  center. 

We  take  a  walk  through  the  city,  stopping  for  a  moment 
upon  the  great  stone  viaduct  which  crosses  the  Cuyahoga 
River,  uniting  the  east  and  west  sides,  and  then  go  on  into 
Superior  Street  and  visit  the  chief  business  sections. 

We  stop  in  a  beautiful  park  in  the  center  of  the  city  to 


208 


THE    GREAT   LAKES 


take  a  look  at  the  bronze  statue  of  Captain  Perry,  represent 
ing  him  when  he  so  bravely  charged  and  captured  the  Brit 
ish  squadron  on  Lake  Erie,  in  the  War  of  1812.  Perry  was 
only  twenty-seven  years  old  at  that  time.  The  British 
expected  an  easy  victory,  but  he  defeated  them ;  and  in 
sending  the  news  of  his  triumph  to  General  William  Henry 
Harrison,  he  used  the  historic  words  :  — 

"  We  have  met  the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours." 
A  walk  along  Euclid  Avenue  shows  us  one  of  the  finest 
streets  of  the  world.     The  residences  are  of  stone,  wood, 

andbrick,  andof  allstyles 
of  architecture.  The 
chief  beauty  of  the  street, 
however,  lies  in  the  vel 
vety  lawns  and  the  old 
forest  trees  upon  them, 
which  make  the  whole 
look  like  a  great  park. 

We  next  visit  the  cem 
etery  near  the  lake  to  see 
the  marble  monument 
under  which  President 
Garfield  lies  buried. 
Then,  coming  back  to 
the  wharf,  we  continue 
our  trip  to  Buffalo. 

Our  huge  steamer  moves  smoothly  and  majestically  over 
the  waves.  Shortly  after  leaving,  we  go  to  bed  in  our  cab 
ins,  and  awake  next  morning  to  find  ourselves  in  front  of 
the  city  of  Buffalo.  Buffalo  is  situated  at  the  east  end  of 
Lake  Erie,  at  the  mouth  of  Buffalo  Creek.  It  is  at  the 
head  of  Niagara  River  and  about  twenty  miles  above  Ni 
agara  Falls.  Its  name  is  supposed  to  come  from  the  herds 


Tomb  of  President  Garfield. 


BUFFALO 


209 


of  buffaloes  which  once  used  this  creek  as  a  watering  place. 
The  city  lies  at  the  chief  gateway  between  the  sea  and  the 
vast  regions  of  the  upper  lakes.  Not  far  from  it  is  the  head 
of  the  Welland  Canal,  which  connects  Lake  Erie  with  Lake 
Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  the  Erie  Canal,  which 
has  its  terminus  at  Buffalo,  connects  the  lakes  with  the 
great  ocean  commerce  which  comes  here  by  way  of  New 


The  Harbor  at  Buffalo. 

York  and  the  Hudson  River.  These  waterways  have  so 
cheapened  the  carrying  of  freight  to  the  interior  of  our 
country  that  Buffalo  has  become  a  great  port. 

It  is  wonderful  how  a  new  waterway  sometimes  changes 
the  commerce  of  a  country.  The  digging  of  the  Erie  Canal 
aided  in  making  New  York  the  greatest  city  of  the  United 
States.  Before  the  canal  was  built,  it  was  cheaper  to  send 


210  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

freight  across  the  mountains  to  Pittsburgh.  It  then  took 
twenty  days,  and  cost  one  hundred  dollars  a  ton  to  carry 
goods  from  Buffalo  to  New  York.  When  the  canal  was 
finished,  it  cost  only  fourteen  dollars  a  ton  ;  and  now  the 
freights  have  been  so  reduced  that  one  can  send  things 
from  New  York  to  Buffalo  for  a  dollar  a  ton,  and  some 
goods  cost  less  than  fifty  cents  a  ton. 

Before  the  canal  was  built,  wheat  was  an  expensive  article 
in  the  eastern  states.  In  some  places  wheat  bread  was  a 
luxury,  and  not  to  be  used  as  a  common  food.  Rye  flour 
and  corn  meal  made  from  grain  raised  in  those  localities 
were  used  instead  of  wheat  flour.  It  is  through  cheap 
transportation  that  we  are  now  able  to  get  our  flour  at  low 
prices. 

How  would  you  like  to  carry  a  bushel  of  wheat  hundreds 
of  miles  for  two  cents  ?  It  now  costs  only  about  two  cents 
to  transport  a  bushel  of  wheat  from  Buffalo  to  New  York  by 
way  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  freight  rates  on  the  Great 
Lakes  above  are  so  low  that  the  wheat  we  saw  loaded  in 
Duluth  will  be  landed  in  Buffalo  for  something  like  three 
cents  a  bushel ;  so  that  it  costs  less  than  ten  cents  a  bushel 
to  bring  grain  from  the  Red  River  Valley  to  New  York. 
The  freight  on  flour  is  also  cheap,  and  the  bread  we  shall 
eat  at  our  dinner  to-day  in  Buffalo  was  probably  made  of 
flour  that  came  here  more  than  a  thousand  miles  on  the 
lakes. 

The  freight  on  iron  ore  from  the  mines  of  Lake  Superior 
to  Buffalo  is  only  a  fraction  of  a  cent  a  pound,  while  the 
ore  steamers  returning  will  carry  coal  back  to  Duluth  for 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  cents  a  ton.  A  ton  of  coal  is  a  good 
wagonload  for  two  horses  over  a  country  road.  Think  of 
taking  a  wagonload  of  stuff  from  Buffalo  to  Duluth  for 
fifteen  cents,  and  you  can  see  how  cheaply  goods  are  now 


(axx; 


212  THE    GREAT   LAKES 

carried  from  one  part  of  our  land  to  another  by  means  of 
the  lakes. 

With  such  advantages,  what  should  we  expect  to  find  at 
Buffalo  ? 

We  should  look  for  grain  elevators  for  storing  this  wheat 
until  it  can  be  transferred  to  the  boats  on  the  canal.  Well, 
Buffalo  has  more  than  fifty  such  elevators,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  chief  grain-shipping  ports  of  the  world.  We  should 
also  expect  to  find  flour  mills.  Buffalo  has  so  many  that 
they  grind  out  more  than  a  million  barrels  of  flour  every 
year.  Moreover,  there  are  rich  coal  fields  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania,  not  far  to  the  southward,  and  we  there 
fore  see  vast  trestles  for  loading  hard  and  soft  coal  upon 
the  steamers.  Near  them  are  the  iron-ore  docks ;  and  not 
far  away  are  machine  shops,  foundries,  and  factories,  in 
which  are  made  many  kinds  of  merchandise  and  which  em 
ploy  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  persons.  The  cheap 
electric  power  produced  at  Niagara  Falls  near  by  adds  greatly 
to  the  manufacturing  facilities  of  the  city ;  and  therefore 
Buffalo  is  growing  fast  in  industry  and  wealth. 


27.     A   VISIT   TO    NIAGARA    FALLS 

NIAGARA  FALLS  is  only  a  few  miles  from  Buffalo. 
We  can  go  by  the  steam  railroad  and  reach  it  in  half 
an  hour,  or  we  can  ride  there  on  an  electric  car,  which  takes 
longer.  The  trolley  cars  carry  us  for  miles  along  the  Ni 
agara  River  below  the  falls,  and  from  them  we  can  see  the 
deep  gorge  through  which  the  river  runs,  boiling  and  seeth 
ing  after  its  great  tumble,  on  its  way  to  Lake  Ontario. 


NIAGARA   FALLS  213 

The  Niagara  is  a  wonderful  river.  Its  waters  have 
their  source  in  Lake  Superior,  and  we  have  seen  how  they 
flow  out  of  that  great  basin,  through  the  St.  Marys  River, 
to  the  level  of  Lake  Huron.  It  was  by  means  of  the  huge 


m 

Niagara  Falls. 

locks  at  the  St.  Marys  Canal  that  we  were  lowered  down 
the  twenty-foot  step  which  lies  between  those  two  lakes. 
We  could  not  notice  that  we  were  going  downhill  as  we 
sailed  on  through  the  Detroit  River  and  across  Lake  Erie 
CARP.  N.  A.  — 14 


214  THE    GREAT    LAKES 

to  Buffalo,  for  the  descent  from  the  foot  of  the  St.  Marys 
Canal  to  the  head  of  the  Niagara  River  is  slight. 

Here,  however,  the  mighty  waters  are  poured  from  the 
Erie  basin  into  that  of  Lake  Ontario,  which  lies  three 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  below.  The  Niagara  River  is  the 
great  down  spout  through  which  they  run.  It  is  only  thirty- 
three  miles  long,  and  it  makes  more  than  half  of  its  de 
scent  in  one  jump  at  Niagara  Falls. 

The  volume  of  water  which  flows  between  the  banks  of 
the  Niagara  is  so  great  that  every  minute  more  than  half  a 
million  tons  are  dropped  over  the  falls  ;  and  the  force  with 
which  this  water  descends  is  estimated  to  be  greater  than 
that  of  all  the  steam  engines  of  our  country  working  to 
gether. 

The  course  of  the  Niagara,  as  it  runs  from  Lake  Erie  to 
Lake  Ontario,  is  nearly  due  north.  Where  it  flows  out  of 
Lake  Erie,  the  stream  is  almost  as  quiet  as  a  mill  pond, 
and  the  fall  is  not  more  than  a  foot  to  the  mile.  Shortly 
after  leaving  Lake  Erie,  however,  the  river  divides  and 
passes  round  Grand  Island.  At  the  lower  end  of  that 
island  it  is  more  than  a  mile  broad.  It  is  still  quiet,  and 
it  moves  slowly  on  down,  until  it  comes  to  within  a  mile  of 
the  falls. 

Then  it  grows  narrower,  the  rapids  begin,  and  one  sees 
the  waters  boiling  as  they  sweep  among  rocks  and  about  is 
lands.  They  seem  to  be  rousing  themselves  for  their  great 
jump.  They  foam  as  they  dash  about  Goat  Island,  on  the 
edge  of  the  falls,  and  then  take  the  hundred-and-sixty-foot 
leap  downward  into  the  great  abyss  below. 

For  the  next  seven  miles  the  river  flows  through  a  ravine, 
the  banks  of  which  rise  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  feet 
almost  straight  upward  above  the  water.  As  the  river  rushes 
between  the  banks,  it  seems  to  give  out  mighty  sighs.  Its 


NIAGARA    FALLS 


2I5 


waters  are  churned  about  in  whirlpools.  They  seethe  and 
foam  until  they  pass  Lewiston,  at  the  end  of  the  gorge, 
when  they  suddenly  become  quiet  and  flow  peacefully  on 
into  Lake  Ontario. 

Our  trolley  car  carries  us  to  the  thriving  town  of  Niagara 
Falls,  which  has  grown  up  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
thousands  of  tourists  who  come  here  every  season.  Near  by 


Whirlpool  and  Rapids. 

is  the  State  Reservation,  surrounding  the  American  side  of 
the  falls,  and  corresponding  to  it  is  Queen  Victoria  Park, 
which  the  Canadians  have  established  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  river. 

In  former  times  much  complaint  was  made  of  the  extortion 
which  the  hack  drivers  and  guides  practiced  at  Niagara. 
Now  everything  is  regulated  by  law,  and  we  find  we  can 
make  the  trip  cheaply.  There  are  coaches  which  take  us 
across  the  suspension  bridge  and  give  us  a  tour  of  the  islands 


2l6 


THE    GREAT   LAKES 


and  to  all  the  points  of  interest  about  the  falls.  Our  round- 
trip  tickets  cost  only  twenty-five  cents,  and  we  have  the 
right  to  stop  and  wait  for  other  coaches  at  the  interesting 
places. 

We  first  drive  to  Goat  Island  to  see  how  the  falls  are 
divided  by  this  high  patch  of  green.  On  our  right  are  the 
American  Falls,  as  high  but  not  so  wide  as  the  Horseshoe 
Falls,  which  extend,  in  the  shape  of  a  great  crescent,  to  the 
shores  of  Canada  on  our  left. 

What  a  thick  mist  rises  from  the  water !  How  the  river 
thunders  as  it  dashes  over  the  rocks !  The  noise  is  so 
great  that  it  can  be  heard  forty  miles  away.  The  waters 
sparkle  as  they  fall.  They  bubble  and  seethe  and  foam  in 
angry  motion  in  their  bed  below  us.  Now  the  sun  comes 
out  from  behind  a  cloud.  It  darts  its  rays  into  the  mist, 
and  paints  rainbows  there.  The  rainbows  change  as  we 

look,  and  new  rain 
bows  appear  as  the 
water  spurts  up 
ward  in  a  diamond 
spray. 

We  tarry  awhile 
on  the  bridge  above 
the  falls,  and  a  little 
later  go  to  the  Cave 
of  the  Winds.  This 
cave  is  right  under 
the  falls,  and  we 
must  have  a  cos 
tume  and  a  guide 
before  we  can  undertake  the  journey.  We  can  get  both  for 
a  dollar.  We  put  on  rubber  coats  and  caps,  and  rude  pan 
taloons  or  bloomers.  Our  feet  are  shod  with  felt  slippers, 


Maid  of  the  Mist. 


NIAGARA   FALLS  217 

in  order  that  we  may  not  slip,  for  the  descent  is  somewhat 
dangerous.  Our  guides  take  us  down  a  wooden  staircase 
along  the  rocks,  until  at  last  we  are  right  under  the  splash 
ing  torrent,  and  as  we  go  into  the  cave  the  noise  almost 
deafens  us.  While  we  stand  there  and  look  out,  the  sun 
peeps  in  through  the  spray,  and  we  have  a  curtain  of  rain 
bows. 

Another  thrilling  experience  is  our  ride  under  the  falls 
in  the  Maid  of  the  Mist.  This  little  steamboat  has  power 
ful  machinery,  which  carries  it  in  and  out  among  the  rocks 
through  the  boiling  waters  from  one  side  of  the  river  to  the 
other. 

We  also  visit  the  whirlpool  and  the  rapids  above  it;  and 
then  take  a  walk  over  the  great  steel  arch  bridge  which  here 
connects  Canada  with  the  United  States.  From  it  we  get 
another  fine  view  of  the  falls. 

The  bridge  itself  is  a  wonder.  It  crosses  right  over  the 
raging  Niagara  River.  It  is  a  mighty  arch  of  steel,  with  a 
span  said  to  be  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Its 
approaches  are  two  hundred  and  ninety  feet  long,  and  on 
its  top  are  two  tracks  for  railroads,  and  below  are  wagon- 
ways,  sidewalks,  and  trolley-car  tracks. 

The  first  suspension  bridge  was  put  across  this  gorge 
more  than  half  a  century  ago,  and  it  is  interesting  to  know 
how  boys  aided  in  its  construction.  A  civil  engineer,  Mr. 
Charles  Ellet,  had  planned  the  bridge.  He  wished  to  get 
a  line  from  one  side  to  the  other  ;  so  he  offered  a  reward 
of  five  dollars  to  any  one  who  could  throw  a  string  across 
the  chasm.  The  next  windy  day,  scores  of  boys  with  kites 
in  their  hands  were  on  .the  American  bank  of  the  river, 
and  before  night  a  lucky  youth  had  landed  his  kite  on  the 
opposite  side,  and  secured  the  reward. 

To  his  kite  string  a  strong  cord  was  now  fastened,  and 


2l8 


THE    GREAT   LAKES 


this  was  pulled  from  one  side  to  the  other.  Then,  by 
means  of  the  cord,  a  rope  was  drawn  over  and  a  cable 
made  of  wires  about  as  thick  as  a  man's  thumb  was  tied  to 
it.  When  the  cable  had  been  drawn  across,  its  ends  were 
fastened  to  wooden  scaffolds  built  upon  each  side  of  the 
river.  An  iron  basket  with  pulley  attached,  was  then  hung 
on  the  cable,  so  that  the  workmen  in  it  could  be  drawn 


Steel  Arch  Bridge  across  the  Niagara. 

from  one  side  to  the  other.  Mr.  Ellet  was  the  first  man 
to  go  over  in  the  basket,  and  his  trip  created  a  great 
sensation. 

Soon  after  this,  huge  stone  towers  were  built,  heavy 
cables  were  carried  across  from  one  bank  to  the  other,  and 
little  by  little  the  suspension  bridge  was  made.  At  first 
people  would  not  trust  themselves  upon  the  bridge ;  but 


NIAGARA   FALLS  219 

after  Mr.  Ellet  had  driven  a  team  of  horses  over  it,  they 
lost  their  fear,  and  it  came  into  general  use.  A  few  years 
later  the  first  railroad  suspension  bridge  was  made,  and 
now  we  have  the  magnificent  structure  upon  which  we 
cross  to-day. 

Other  wonderful  engineering  works  are  those  connected 
with  the  tunnels  which  have  been  built  to  harness  Niagara 
Falls  and  make  its  immense  water  power  labor  for  man. 
One  of  these  begins  on  the  American  side  a  mile  and  a 
quarter  above  the  falls,  and  extends  to  beyond  the  steel 
bridge  below  them.  It  is  a  tunnel  eighteen  feet  wide  and 
twenty-one  feet  high  cut  through  the  solid  rock  in  such  a 
way  that  the  water  rushes  through  it  with  a  force  equal  to 
that  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  horses.  In  the  tun 
nel,  pits  have  been  sunk  in  which  huge  turbine  wheels 
have  been  erected,  and  which  are  driven  round  and  round 
by  the  force  of  the  water  as  it  falls  upon  them.  Connected 
with  the  wheels  are  dynamos  for  the  generation  of  elec 
tricity  ;  and  the  machinery  is  such  that  each  wheel  exerts 
as  much  force  as  five  thousand  horses  all  working  at 
once. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  falls  the  Canadians  are 
using  the  water  power  in  much  the  same  manner  by  means 
of  an  immense  steel  flume,  eighteen  feet  in  diameter,  which 
runs  below  Queen  Victoria  Park,  carrying  enough  water  to 
produce  many  thousand  horse  power.  In  this  way  the 
falls  are  now  doing  the  work  of  several  hundred  thousand 
horses ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  if  their  water  power  were 
all  used  it  would  equal  more  than  seven  million  horse 
power,  an  amount  so  great  we  cannot  conceive  it. 

The  electricity  thus  produced  is  employed  to  run  many 
factories  near  the  falls.  Some  of  it  goes  through  wires  to 
Buffalo  to  furnish  power  there,  and  some  to  light  and  run 


220  THE    OIL    REGIONS 

the  street  cars  of  cities  and  towns  which  are  several  hours 
distant  by  rail.  Many  think  that  this  water  power  will 
cause  a  gigantic  manufacturing  city  to  spring  up  about 
the  falls;  and  that  by  means  of  wires  it  may  sometime  be 
carried  as  far  as  Chicago  and  New  York,  so  that  the 
Niagara  River  will  be  doing  the  work  of  a  hundred  cities 
or  more. 


28.     TRAVELS    IN    THE   OIL    REGIONS 

WE  shall  visit  to-day  some  of  the  oil  fields  of  the  United 
States.  There  are  parts  of  our  country  under  which 
lie  vast  beds  of  porous  rock,  filled  with  petroleum  or  coal  oil. 
Petroleum  is  a  name  made  from  two  Greek  words  meaning 
rock  oil.  This  oil  was  known  to  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and 
Persians  in  ancient  times,  but  was  never  used  to  any  ex 
tent  until  it  was  discovered  in  great  quantities  in  our  own 
country  a  little  more  than  a  half  century  ago.  To-day 
there  are  a  number  of  oil  fields  in  different  parts  of  the 
world  ;  but  the  only  ones  that  compare  with  those  of  the 
United  States  are  in  Mexico  and  a  region  about  the  Cas 
pian  Sea,  where  for  ages  petroleum  has  been  known  to 
exist,  but  where  it  has  been  worked  commercially  only 
since  the  oil  discoveries  of  this  territory  we  are  about  to 
explore.  Here  in  northwest  Pennsylvania  and  southwest 
New  York,  not  far  from  Buffalo,  on  the  western  plateau 
of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  is  a  country  which  gave 
the  first  coal  oil  to  commerce,  and  which  is  still  lighting 
many  millions  of  homes. 

We  see  signs  of  petroleum  soon  after  leaving  Buffalo. 
Long  railroad  trains,  carrying   huge   iron  cylinders  filled 


THE   FIRST    OIL  WELL 


221 


with  petroleum,  fly  past  us ;  and  on  both  sides  of  the  track 
are  derricks,  tall  wooden  frames  built  up  above  the  earth, 
for  drilling  the  wells  or  raising  the  oil  to  the  surface.  In 
many  places  are  vast  tanks  of  iron  used  for  storing  petro 
leum,  each  of  which  holds  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand 
barrels.  The  ground  is  covered  with  a  network  of  iron 


Oil  Derrick  and  Tanks. 

pipes  which  carry  the  oil  here  and  there.  The  air  is  filled 
with  the  smell  of  petroleum.  The  very  earth  seems  greasy, 
and  the  streams  are  coated  with  a  steel-blue  scum. 

We  stop  at  Titusville,  Pennsylvania,  where  in  August, 
1858,  the  first  well  was  sunk.  Before  that,  no  one  knew 
that  there  were  enormous  quantities  of  coal  oil  underground. 
The  light  of  the  world  came  chiefly  from  candles  of  tallow 
or  wax,  or  little  wicks  floating  in  saucers  of  lard  or  sperm 
oil.  This  was  so  even  in  the  oil  regions,  notwithstanding 


222  THE    OIL    REGIONS 

little  pools  of  petroleum  lay  here  and  there  upon  the  sur 
face  of  the  ground. 

Petroleum  was  then  called  rock  oil,  and  the  Indians  laid 
cloths  on  these  pools  or  upon  the  ground  and  soaked  it  up  to 
use  it  for  medicine.  It  was  supposed  to  be  good  for  rheuma 
tism  and  sore  throat,  and  to  make  the  hair  grow.  The 
farmers  thought  it  injured  the  land,  and  it  is  said  that  one 
man  sold  out  and  moved  off  to  Canada  because  the  oil  came 
out  upon  the  ponds  and  spoiled  the  drinking  water  for  his 
cattle.  After  oil  was  discovered,  that  farm  brought  a  for 
tune  to  its  owner. 

Drake,  the  man  who  bored  the  first  well  near  Titusville, 
thought  that  if  there  was  so  much  oil  on  the  top  of  the 
ground,  there  must  be  much  more  below,  so  he  drilled  down 
into  the  earth  for  it.  At  sixty-nine  feet  he  struck  oil,  and 
the  greasy  fluid  came  forth  at  the  rate  of  thirty-five  barrels 
a  day.  When  this  was  reported  in  other  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  no  one  believed  it  to  be  true.  But  later  more  wells 
were  sunk,  and  more  oil  was  the  result.  It  was  soon  found 
that  the  real  source  of  the  petroleum  was  much  deeper  than 
sixty-nine  feet,  the  best  wells  being  those  which  went  down 
from  thirteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  and  more  feet  into 
the  ground. 

It  is  difficult  to  bore  such  deep  holes  through  the  rock. 
Derricks  must  be  erected  to  hold  the  long  steel  drilling  tools, 
which  are  so  heavy  that  it  would  take  two  horses  to  haul  a 
set  of  them.  Steam  engines  are  placed  beside  the  derricks, 
and  they  keep  raising  and  dropping  the  heavy  drills  upon 
the  rock  until  a  hole  is  cut  down  into  the  earth  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  or  more. 

When  the  oil  is  struck,  a  torpedo  of  nitroglycerin  is  put 
into  the  bottom  of  the  well  and  exploded  to  enlarge  the 
hole  ;  and  the  oil  sometimes  gushes  forth  at  the  rate  of 


THE    USES    OF   PETROLEUM 


223 


hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  barrels  a  day.  From  some 
wells  it  has  to  be  pumped  ;  from  others  it  flows  freely  for 
a  long  time  without  pumping. 

Petroleum  was  thought  to  be  of  but  little  value  at  the 
start.  Some  of  the  first  wells  were  sunk  simply  for  the 
novelty  of  seeing  the  oil  spout  up  into  the  air,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  barrels  of  crude  petroleum  were  allowed  to 


A  Burning  Oil  Well. 

flow  into  the  creeks  and  rivers ;  for  no  one  had  yet  learned 
how  to  utilize  it.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  some 
one  discovered  a  method  of  refining  it  and  thus  removing 
its  impurities.  Then  it  was  found  that  by  the  use  of  chim 
neys,  properly  made,  the  refined  oil  could  be  burned  in 
lamps,  giving  no  smoke,  and  making  a  much  better  light 
than  any  other  oil  so  far  known. 

Little  by  little  the  value  of  petroleum  for  other  purposes 
became  appreciated.  It  is  now  used  for  making  gasoline 
and  illuminating  gas ;  and  a  great  deal  is  manufactured 


224  THE    OIL   REGIONS 

into  lubricating  oils  for  running  machinery,  some  into  ben 
zine,  which  is  employed  in  making  India  rubber  and  rubber 
goods.  Out  of  the  refuse  of  the  refineries  come  vaseline 
and  other  things,  such  as  chewing  gum,  which  is  so  largely 
consumed  in  our  country.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that  two  hun 
dred  important  products  are  made  from  petroleum.  Its 
principal  use,  however,  is  for  lighting ;  and  in  that  it  has 
superseded  all  other  oils.  The  refined  oil  is  called  kerosene. 

Within  a  few  years  after  Captain  Drake's  discovery,  this 
region  where  we  are  now  was  filled  with  men  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  who  had  come  here  to  make  their  fortunes. 
Cities  grew  up  in  different  parts  of  it,  and  a  vast  industry 
was  founded  to  get  out  the  petroleum  and  prepare  it  for 
the  markets.  Since  then  other  large  oil  fields  have  been 
discovered  in  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kansas,  Okla 
homa,  Texas,  Louisiana,  and  California,  and  we  now  pro 
duce  at  times  over  two  hundred  million  barrels  of  petroleum 
a  year.  This  is  enough  to  give  four  gallons  to  every  one 
upon  earth  and  leave  some  to  spare.  We  produce  more 
than  half  of  all  the  petroleum  used  by  man,  and  far  more 
than  any  other  country,  our  chief  competitors  being  Russia, 
Mexico,  Austria,  Rotimania,  Germany,  and  Canada,  as  well 
as  Burma,  India,  and  Japan,  and  the  islands  of  Java, 
Sumatra,  and  Borneo. 

The  money  that  annually  comes  from  this  product  amounts 
to  many  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  which  we  receive  for 
it  from  abroad  is  greater  than  from  any  of  our  other  exports 
except  cotton,  breadstuffs  and  provisions,  and  manufactures 
of  copper  and  of  iron  and  steel.  Our  kerosene  is  now  used 
by  the  people  of  every  continent,  and  it  goes  to  all  parts 
of  the  world.  It  is  carried  by  camels  over  the  deserts  of 
Africa  and  Asia  and  by  llamas  through  the  passes  of  the 
Andes.  I  have  watched  Chinese  pushing  it  in  cans  upon 


NATURAL   GAS  225 

wheelbarrows  through  the  streets  of  Peking,  and  have  seen 
the  Hindus  lighting  their  huts  with  it  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges. 

Great  tank  steamers  have  been  built  for  carrying  our 
kerosene  over  the  seas,  and  most  of  such  exports  now  go  in 
that  way.  The  steamers  are  made  entirely  of  iron ;  and 
when  loaded,  the  body  of  the  vessel  is  filled  with  this  liquid. 
When  the  steamer  comes  to  the  wharves  of  a  far-away  land, 
the  oil  is  pumped  out  by  machinery  into  huge  tanks,  many 
thousand  gallons  being  unloaded  in  one  day. 

In  our  own  country  iron  pipes  have  been  so  laid  that 
the  petroleum  can  be  pumped  from  the  oil  fields  over  the 
mountains  and  through  the  valleys  to  Cleveland,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  places  where  there  are 
refineries  in  which  it  is  prepared  for  use.  There  are  also 
pipes  running  from  the  refineries  to  the  railroads  and 
steamers.  The  pipe  lines  connect  the  oil  regions  with  other 
great  cities,  so  that  by  turning  a  valve  the  oil  can  be  let  out 
through  a  pipe  into  almost  any  market  desired.  A  similar 
network  of  pipe  lines  has  been  laid  for  our  oil  regions  in 
Oklahoma,  Texas,  California,  and  other  places ;  and  the  oil 
pipes  of  the  United  States  are  so  many  that  if  they  were 
placed  in  one  line  they  would  encircle  the  world. 

In  going  about  through  the  oil  territory  we  are  warned  not 
to  light  matches.  The  flowing  wells  may  ignite  or  the  tanks 
of  petroleum  explode,  when  the  oil  will  run  over  the  coun 
try  in  rivers  of  flames.  A  huge  tank  near  Oil  City,  Penn 
sylvania,  once  caught  fire,  covering  the  waters  of  Oil  Creek 
with  blazing  petroleum  and  causing  the  loss  of  many  lives. 

As  we  go  on  through  the  oil  fields,  we  frequently  pass 
towns  whose  streets  at  first  seem  to  be  filled  with  torchlight 
processions.  A  second  look  shows  us  that  the  torches  are 
stationary,  and  that  each  is  a  round  black  pipe,  out  of  which 


226  THE    OIL   REGIONS 

comes  a  waving  flame  of  fire.  That  flame  is  produced  by 
natural  gas  which  flows  forth  from  the  depths  of  the  earth. 
It  comes  from  huge  gas  reservoirs  made  by  nature,  hun 
dreds  of  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Such  reser 
voirs  are  common  to  the  oil  regions,  where  the  gas  and  oil 
are  often  found  close  together. 

Men  drill  for  gas  much  as  they  do  for  oil.  They  bore 
holes  into  the  earth  with  drilling  tools,  going  down  one  or 
two  thousand  feet  before  they  get  through  the  hard  rock 
which  forms  the  heavy,  tight  roof  to  the  porous  rock  in 
which  the  gas  is  stored. 

When  the  latter  is  struck,  the  gas  rushes  out  with  great 
force.  It  carries  water  and  stone  with  it  at  first,  and  a  pipe 
is  driven  down  into  the  well  to  keep  the  water  from  flowing 
in.  After  this  the  gas  comes  out  of  the  top  of  the  pipe  so 
fast  that  in  a  good  well  it  is  impossible  to  strike  the  mouth 
of  the  pipe  with  a  sledge  hammer.  The  hammer  falls  upon 
the  stream  of  gas  as  though  upon  a  rubber  cushion,  and  the 
gas  throws  it  up  from  the  pipe.  Hurl  a  baseball  club  into 
the  stream.  It  will  be  thrown  eighty  feet  or  more  into  the 
air,  and  as  it  descends  into  the  stream  of  gas  it  will  be  lifted 
again  and  again,  until  at  last,  coming  outside  the  current, 
it  will  drop  to  the  ground. 

I  have  tried  to  strike  the  top  of  the  two-inch  pipe  of  a 
small  gas  well.  The  gas  stream  threw  my  hammer  upward 
again  and  again,  and  I  could  not  pound  the  iron.  The 
gas  coming  out  of  that  little  pipe  made  a  noise  which  was 
almost  deafening.  It  was  of  a  bluish  color,  and  upon 
putting  my  fingers  into  it,  I  found  it  as  cold  as  ice. 

Near  Fincllay,  in  western  Ohio,  I  was  once  shown  the 
wonderful  force  of  the  great  Karg  Well,  which  was  then 
flowing  twelve  million  cubic  feet  of  gas  a  day.  A  pipe 
four  inches  in  diameter  had  been  run  out  from  the  well 


NATURAL   GAS 


227 


above  the  banks  of  a  little  river.  A  match  was  held  in 
front  of  the  pipe,  and  a  lever  so  turned  that  the  gas  came 
slowly  out.  It  was  lighted,  and  at  first  it  formed  what 
seemed  like  a  bonfire  hanging  above  the  water.  As  the 
pipe  was  gradually  opened,  the  flame  increased,  until  at 
last  the  gas  poured  forth  with  a  roar  like  that  of  Niagara. 
The  flame  spread  out  in  a  great  sheet  from  thirty  to  forty 
feet  long.  It  hung  over  the  rapid-running  water,  making 
it  so  warm  that  clouds 
of  steam  rose  up  and 
touched  the  flame.  As 
the  gas  came  forth,  the 
noise  shook  the  earth,  the 
heavy  iron  pipe  quivered, 
and  the  air  was  so  hot  as 
to  be  almost  unendur 
able.  Still  the  mouth  of 
the  pipe  was  cold,  the 
rush  of  the  gas  being  so 
great  that  it  blew  the  fire 
five  feet  away  from  it. 

I  threw  blocks  of  wood 
and  pieces  of  stone  into 
the  gas,  and  saw  them 
carried  far  out  over  the 
river.  The  sheet  of  flame 
was  steady,  and  the  noise 

continued  until  a  valve,  which  moved  so  gently  that  a  boy 
could  operate  it,  was  turned  and  the  gas  shut  off. 

The  gas  is  used  as  a  fuel  for  manufacturing  and  also  for 
lighting  and  heating  houses.  In  such  homes  there  is  no 
woocf  to  cut,  no  coal  to  carry,  and  no  ashes  to  take  out. 
The  fires  are  made  by  dropping  pieces  of  lighted  paper  into 


228  THE   OIL    REGIONS 

the  stoves,  and  a  twist  of  the  finger  turns  the  valve  that 
lets  in  the  gas.  A  turn  the  other  way,  and  your  fire  is 
out ;  or  if  you  wish  it,  it  will  burn  all  day  and  all  night. 

Gas  is  often  burned  in  grates,  the  jets  coming  out  of 
sheets  of  asbestos  which  are  so  roughened  that  as  the 
flame  plays  over  them  they  look  like  frosted  gold.  In  some 
grates  pieces  of  broken  rock  are  thrown ;  the  burning  gas 
makes  them  look  red-hot,  and  you  have  what  seems  to  be 
blazing  coals.  In  the  fireplaces  they  have  logs  made  of 
clay  in  which  holes  are  punched,  so  that  when  the  gas  is 
lighted  they  remind  one  of  burning  wood ;  and  in  the 
kitchen  stoves  sticks  of  artificial  wood  take  the  place  of  the 
real  article. 

Natural  gas  has  an  enormous  heating  power,  and  we 
shall  see  it  used  in  the  furnaces  of  Pittsburgh,  where  it  is 
employed  in  making  glass  and  for  some  of  the  processes  of 
iron  manufacture. 

As  our  train  carries  us  on  down  the  valley  of  the  Allegheny 
River,  we  pass  many  factories  where  the  gas  is  used. 
Such  institutions  are  more  numerous  as  we  go  on,  and  at 
last  there  seem  to  be  machine  shops  everywhere.  Sur 
rounding  almost  every  town  and  scattered  through  it,  is  a 
forest  of  smokestacks,  from  which,  as  the  evening  shades 
fall,  the  flames  rise,  lighting  up  the  country  for  miles  around, 
and  making  a  scene  which  is  weird,  ghostlike,  and  almost 
terrible. 

We  are  now  nearing  one  of  the  chief  manufacturing  centers 
of  the  United  States.  We  are  in  the  suburbs  of  the  smoky 
city  of  Pittsburgh,  where  thousands  of  men  are  busy  day 
and  night  making  iron,  steel,  and  hundreds  of  the  various 
products  which  come  from  them. 


DISCOVERY   OF   COAL 


229 


29.     TRAVELS    IN   THE   COAL    REGIONS 

HAVE  you  ever  thought  what  strange  things  there  are 
away  down  under  the  ground  ? 

We  saw  some  of  them  when  we  visited  the  copper  and 
iron  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  and  others  in  the  natural  gas 
and  oil  fields,  and  to-day  we  are  to  examine  something 
which  is  even  more  wonderful.  It  is  an  article  we  use 
every  day,  and  which  we  could  not  well  get  along  without. 

It  is  coal. 

Have  you  ever  thought  what  a  wonderful  thing  coal  is  ? 

Take  up  a  lump  of  the  dirty  black  stuff  and  look  at  it. 
Can  you  realize  that  that 
lump  was  once  plants  and 
vegetables ;  that  it  was 
growing  ages  and  ages 
ago;  and  that,  having 
been  covered  over  with 
earth  and  stone,  it  finally 
hardened  and  turned  into 
coal  ?  Coal,  coal  oil,  and 
natural  gas,  with  respect 

to  one  another,  might  be  called  cousins.  It  is  thought 
that  all  were  made  in  about  the  same  way ;  and  they  are, 
as  you  know,  of  much  the  same  nature. 

Men  lived  for  thousands  of  years  upon  the  earth  before 
they  learned  that  coal  was  good  to  burn.  All  the  iron 
used  before  the  days  of  the  middle  ages  was  smelted  from 
the  ore  with  charcoal.  A  mythical  tale  is  told  of  how  a 
Belgian  blacksmith  discovered  that  stone  coal  was  good 
for  iron  making.  This  blacksmith  was  a  poor  man.  He 
had  to  make  the  charcoal  which  he  used  in  his  forge,  but 

CARP.    N.   A. —  15 


The  Coal  Regions. 


230  THE   COAL   REGIONS 

it  took  so  much  time  that  he  found  that,  hard  as  he  might 
work,  he  was  not  able  to  earn  enough  money  to  keep  his 
family.  At  last,  in  despair,  he  was  about  to  kill  himself, 
when  a  white-bearded  old  man  appeared  at  his  shop,  and 
told  him  to  go  to  the  mountains  near  by  and  dig  out  the 
black  earth  and  burn  it.  He  did  so,  and  was  able  to  make 
a  horseshoe  at  one  forging.  This  is  the  Belgian  story  of 
the  discovery  of  coal. 

The  first  coal  found  in  America  was  near  Ottawa,  Illinois, 
It  was  discovered  by  Father  Hennepin,  a  French  explorer 
who  traveled  through  that  part  of  our  country  in  1679. 

It  was  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  that  the  first  coal  mines 
of  the  United  States  were  worked.  That  coal  region  was 
discovered  by  a  boy  who  was  fishing.  While  hunting 
for  crabs  for  bait  in  a  small  creek,  he  stumbled  on  the  out- 
croppings  of  the  James  River  coal  beds. 

Coal  is  of  different  kinds.  Bituminous  or  soft  coal  can 
be  broken  without  trouble,  and  some  of  it  burns  so  easily 
that  a  lump  can  be  lighted  with  a  match.  Anthracite  coal 
is  almost  as  hard  as  stone,  and  difficult  to  break.  It  was 
a  long  time  after  soft  coal  was  used  before  people  dis 
covered  that  anthracite  coal  would  burn,  but  it  now  forms 
a  large  part  of  our  fuel.  There  is  a  little  anthracite-coal 
region  in  northeastern  Pennsylvania,  about  Wilkesbarre 
and  Scranton,  within  two  hundred  miles  of  New  York  city, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  Philadelphia,  which 
produces  every  year  coal  that  sells  for  more  than  the 
annual  product  of  all  the  gold  mines  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  the  richest  coal  field  of  the  world.  More  than  seventy 
million  tons  of  hard  coal  are  taken  out  of  it  every  year,  and 
the  mining  has  been  going  on  since  the  oldest  of  our  grand 
fathers  were  babies. 

These  coal  fields  are  said  to  have  been  found  by  Nicho 


ANTHRACITE   COAL  231 

Allen,  when  George  Washington  was  President  of  the 
United  States.  Allen  was  a  hunter.  One  night  he  en 
camped  in  this  region,  building  a  wood  fire  upon  some 
black  stones.  After  dinner  he  lay  down  by  the  fire  and 
went  to  sleep.  He  awoke  to  find  himself  almost  roasted. 
The  stones  were  on  fire,  and  Pennsylvania  anthracite  was 
burning  for  the  first  time. 

Shortly  after  that  a  company  was  formed  to  sell  the  new 
coal.  Some  of  it  was  shipped  to  Philadelphia ;  but  the 
people  did  not  know  how  to  use  it,  and  could  not  make 
it  burn.  It  was  unpopular,  and  those  who  had  bought  it 
thought  they  had  been  cheated.  Some  of  them  finally  got 


A  Coal  Breaker. 


a  writ  from  the  city  authorities  denouncing  the  men  who 
sold  anthracite  as  knaves  and  scoundrels  for  trying  to  im 
pose  rocks  upon  the  people  for  coal. 

Anthracite  coal  as  it  comes  out  of  the  mines  contains 


232  THE   COAL   REGIONS 

great  quantities  of  stone,  slate,  and  dust.  It  has  to  be 
broken  up  and  picked  over  before  it  can  be  used.  This  is 
done  in  what  is  known  as  a  coal  breaker,  a  building 
almost  as  big  as  one  of  the  grain  elevators  we  saw  at 
Duluth.  The  coal  is  taken  to  the  top,  and  the  lumps  are 
separated  by  machinery  into  different  sizes.  They  are  then 
run  through  inclined  troughs,  or  chutes,  and  boys  who  are 
paid  about  fifty  cents  a  day  pick  out  the  slate  and  other 
rubbish  as  the  coal  goes  by. 

The  chief  coal  of  the  world  is  bituminous  or  soft  coal. 
Our  anthracite  is  found  chiefly  in  Pennsylvania,  although 
there  is  some  in  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  and  Alaska, 
whereas  our  bituminous  coal  is  scattered  throughout  the 
United  States.  It  exists  in  three  fourths  of  them,  and  is 
mined  in  thirty  or  more.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  we 
have  more  coal  than  any  other  country,  just  as  we  have 
more  and  better  iron.  This  is  valuable  to  us  as  a  people, 
because  manufacturing  is  done  chiefly  by  means  of  coal  and 
iron,  and  hence  we  shall  always  have  plenty  to  do  in 
making  things  to  sell. 

Most  of  the  best  coal  of  North  America  is  in  the  section 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  greater  part  lies  in 
the  Appalachian  Mountains.  From  the  northern  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  running  down  through  these  mountains  clear 
into  central  Alabama,  is  a  bed  of  bituminous  coal  which 
is  from  eighty  to  ninety  miles  wide.  This  coal  bed  is  one 
of  the  largest  and  richest  on  earth.  It  is  so  great  that  it 
could  supply  the  world  with  fuel  for  hundreds  of  years. 

Another  big  coal  field  is  found  in  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
and  we  have  others  in  the  central  and  southern  parts  of 
the  basin  of  the  Mississippi  lying  west  of  the  river.  There 
are  great  coal  fields  in  Ohio,  North  Dakota,  Wyoming,  and 
Colorado,  and  in  Montana  and  Utah.  Each  of  these  states, 


IN   A   MINE  233 

it  is  estimated,  contains  billions  of  tons  of  coal.  There  is 
also  coal  in  Washington,  and  enormous  beds  of  it  are  to  be 
found  in  the  snow  lands  of  Alaska.  In  1917  the  product  of 
our  coal  mines  sold  for  about  seven  hundred  million  dollars. 

Near  Pittsburgh  the  coal  vein  is  about  six  feet  thick ;  and 
in  going  along  the  Ohio  River,  and  looking  at  the  banks, 
one  can  see  the  black  bed  of  coal  standing  out  between  the 
rocks  above  and  below. 

Vast  amounts  of  coal  are  shipped  from  Pittsburgh  to 
many  parts  of  our  country.  One  railroad  company  has  fifty 
thousand  cars  and  nine  hundred  locomotives  which  are 
used  for  coal  carrying  alone,  while  another  has  seventy 
thousand  such  cars.  More  than  a  million  of  our  people 
are  kept  busy  in  handling  coal. 

We  passed  immense  barges  of  coal  which  came  from 
Pittsburgh  as  we  rode  up  the  Mississippi ;  we  saw  coal  go 
ing  up  the  Great  Lakes  in  the  boats  which  steamed  by  us 
as  we  came  down  to  Buffalo ;  and  we  now  find  the  Ohio 
River  at  Pittsburgh  almost  filled  with  barges  ready  to  be 
floated  down  to  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Cairo,  and  New 
Orleans. 

Let  us  take  a  boat  from  Pittsburgh,  and  ride  up  the  Mo- 
nongahela.  That  river  has  cut  its  course  deep  into  the 
earth ;  and  we  can  see  great  black  blotches  showing  out 
upon  the  green  walls  of  the  hills  on  both  sides.  Those 
black  spots  are  the  openings  of  coal  mines,  and  the  little 
villages  below  them,  with  their  smoke-colored  houses  run 
ning  along  narrow  streets  up  the  hills,  are  the  homes  of  the 
miners. 

Keep  your  eyes  on  the  blotches.  See  the  noisy  cars 
drawn  by  mules  coming  out  of  the  mines.  Watch  them 
as  they  rush  down  the  inclined  railroads  and  discharge  the 
coal  into  the  barges  below.  For  half  a  century  they  have 


234 


THE   COAL    REGIONS 


been  taking  coal  out  of  those  hills,  and  there  are  vast  quan 
tities  left. 

Let  us  go  into  one  of  the  mines.  We  crawl  down  through 
tunnel  after  tunnel,  our  way  being  lighted  by  the  little 
lamps  used  by  the  miners.  The  faces  of  the  men  are  as 
black  as  the  coal,  and  they  make  us  think  of  ghosts  as  we 
see  them  through  the  dim  light  in  the  distance.  Notice 
how  the  tunnels  are  upheld  by  wood.  We  walk  along  a 
little  railroad  track  which  has  been  made  for  the  coal  cars, 

and  the  water  drips 
down  upon  us  as  we  go 
through. 

Look  behind  you! 
Stand  as  close  to  the 
wall  as  you  can.  There 
comes  a  car !  It  is 
hauled  by  a  mule  which 
goes  on  the  trot,  hurry 
ing  .even  faster  as  he  moves  by  us.  WTe  walk  for  miles 
through  one  tunnel  after  another.  They  have  been  cut  out 
of  the  coal,  and  there  is  only  slate  and  rock  above  and  be 
low.  Now  and  then  we  stop  in  rooms  or  chambers  which 
were  once  solid  coal.  The  mines  make  us  think  of  a  city, 
for  the  tunnels  run  in  every  direction  and  cross  one  an 
other  like  streets. 

As  we  go  on,  we  perceive  the  many  dangers  of  coal  min 
ing.  The  walls  sometimes  fall  in  and  the  workmen  are 
crushed.  Sometimes  the  mines  are  flooded,  and  the  miners, 
shut  off  by  the  stopping  up  of  the  tunnels,  are  drowned. 

Terrible  calamities  come  also  from  what  is  known  as 
fire  damp.  There  are  gases  in  coal  mines  which  are  some 
times  set  on  fire  by  the  candles  or  lamps  of  the  miners. 
They  explode,  and  as  quick  as  a  stroke  of  lightning,  and 


There  comes  a  car !  " 


IN  A  MINE 


235 


with  a  clap  like  thunder,  a  whirlwind  of  flame  goes  through 
the  tunnels,  pulling  down  the  timbers  and  caving  in  the 
walls.  The  miners  are  blinded,  scorched,  and  perhaps 
burned  to  cinders,  hundreds  being  often  killed  at  one  time. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  our  miners  are  much  better  off 
than  those  of  other  countries.  Their  work  is  easier  and 
their  wages  higher.  In  England  the  coal  veins  are  so  thin 


Coal  Miners  at  Work. 

that  much  of  the  coal  has  to  be  dug  out  by  men  lying  on 
their  sides  ;  and  in  Belgium  the  coal  cars  are  often  pulled 
by  men  and  women.  Children  are  rarely  employed  in  the 
American  mines  ;  but  less  than  a  generation  ago  little  boys 
and  girls  were  used  to  haul  coal  cars  in  the  mines  of 
England  and  Scotland.  They  were  harnessed  by  chains 
fastened  to  belts  about  their  waists,  and  they  crawled  along 
through  the  low  tunnels  on  all  fours,  dragging  the  coal  cars 
to  the  surface. 


236  PITTSBURGH 

Mining  is  now  going  on  throughout  this  great  Appala 
chian  coal  field.  Cities  have  been  built  up  by  the  cheap 
fuel,  and  a  wonderful  growth  in  manufacturing  is  being 
made  by  this  means.  This  is  especially  so  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  coal  beds,  where  valuable  deposits  of  iron  and 
limestone  lie  close  to  the  coal.  All  these  materials  are 
necessary  to  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel,  and  that 
region  is  fast  growing  as  a  manufacturing  center.  The 
city  of  Birmingham  in  Alabama  promises  some  day  to  rival 
Pittsburgh  in  its  product  of  iron  and  steel,  and  Nashville, 
Chattanooga,  and  Knoxville,  in  Tennessee,  are  thriving  be 
cause  of  their  nearness  to  cheap  iron  and  coal. 


30.     PITTSBURGH    AND    ITS    IRON    WORKS 

WE  are  in  Pittsburgh  this  morning.  Dense  clouds  hang 
over  us  and  some  parts  of  the  city  are  black  with  the 
soot  from  the  factories  and  foundries  which  are  always 
pouring  forth  smoke  and  fire  from  their  chimneys.  This 
is  one  of  the  chief  manufacturing  centers  of  the  United 
States.  It  has  so  much  cheap  fuel,  and  burns  such  quan 
tities  of  it,  that  it  has  been  called  the  hearth  of  the  nation, 
and  it  might  be  named  its  coal  bin  as  well.  It  lies  where 
the  Monongahela  and  Allegheny  rivers  flow  together  to 
form  the  Ohio,  within  easy  reach  of  some  of  the  chief 
coal,  oil,  and  natural  gas  fields  of  our  country.  By  the 
Monongahela  it  has  access  to  the  immense  coal  deposits 
of  West  Virginia,  and  by  the  Allegheny  to  the  coal,  gas, 
and  oil  regions  of  western  Pennsylvania.  It  has  far  more 
fuel  than  it  can  use ;  and  in  a  single  year  its  exports  of 


IRON   ORE  237 

coal  are  so  great  that  they  could  furnish  almost  three  tons 
to  every  family  in  the  United  States  and  leave  some  to  spare. 

Moreover,  the  transportation  facilities  of  Pittsburgh  are 
such  that  it  can  easily  ship  this  coal  to  the  markets,  and 
also  bring  in  at  low  cost  the  materials  used  in  its  factories, 
and  send  away  the  goods  it  makes  to  other  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  the  world.  By  the  Ohio  and  its  tribu 
taries  it  can  reach  almost  any  part  of  the  Mississippi  basin. 
You  may  remember  that  when  we  came  up  the  great  river, 
we  passed  coal  barges  floating  from  here  down  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  ;  and  we  are  now  told  that  Pittsburgh  has  so  many 
navigable  waterways  that  they  enable  it  to  send  goods  by 
boats  into  twenty  different  states,  and  enough,  if  stretched 
out  in  one  line,  to  reach  from  here  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
and  over  the  continents  of  Europe  and  Asia  to  far  beyond 
the  Philippine  Islands  in  the  Pacific.  The  city  has  also 
many  lines  of  railways  which  give  it  cheap  transportation 
to  the  West  and  to  the  seaboard ;  and  the  traffic  going  in 
and  out  of  it  by  rail  is  so  great  that  it  is  said  to  surpass 
that  of  any  other  city  of  the  world. 

Pittsburgh  is  but  a  short  distance  from  Lake  Erie,  and 
hence  it  can  get  iron  ore  cheaply  from  the  mines  about 
Lake  Superior ;  and  with  its  cheap  iron  and  coal  it  has  be 
come  our  best  center  for  all  kinds  of  manufactures  of  iron 
and  steel.  In  some  years  it  produces  one  fourth  of  all 
the  pig  iron  we  make,  and  almost  half  of  the  steel.  It 
makes  more  steel  rails  for  our  car  tracks  and  armor  for 
our  battleships  than  any  other  place  in  the  United  States. 
Through  its  cheap  fuel,  and  especially  natural  gas,  it  pro 
duces  more  glassware  than  any  other  city,  making  vast 
quantities  of  window  panes  and  tableware.  It  manufactures 
tens  of  thousands  of  lamp  chimneys  every  day,  and  every 
year  enough  heavy  plate  glass,  like  that  used  in  store 


238 


PITTSBURGH 


windows,  to  roof  a  big  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  or  more. 
It  also  makes  air  brakes,  locomotives,  steam  engines,  bridges, 
and  electrical  machinery  of  various  kinds. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  things  in  and  about  Pitts 
burgh  are  to  be  seen  after  dark.  The  great  iron  mills  are 
kept  running  all  night  long,  and  out  of  their  huge  chimneys 


m  •  ^ 


Coke  Ovens. 


pour  raging  flames,  mixed  with  smoke.  If  we  take  the 
inclined  railway  and  go  to  the  top  of  the  hills  about  the 
city,  we  shall  see  such  fires  in  every  direction;  and,  in 
coming  to  Pittsburgh  at  night  over  some  of  the  railroads, 
one  rides  for  long  distances  past  what  seem  to  be  mounds 
of  blazing  fire.  They  are  the  coke  ovens  in  which  the 
coal  is  roasted  before  it  is  used  for  smelting:  iron. 


BURNING    COKE  239 

It  seems  funny  to  think  of  roasting  coal,  does  it  not  ? 

Yes ;  but  the  coal  must  be  purified  that  it  may  be  fitted 
for  smelting,  and  it  is  this  roasting  that  purifies  it.  By  a 
short  ride  on  the  railroad  we  reach  Connellsville,  and  see 
how  the  coking  is  done.  Our  train  takes  us  by  thousands 
of  coking  ovens.  These  are  moundlike  affairs  of  brick 
and  stone  built  much  after  the  shape  of  an  old-fashioned 
beehive,  save  that  they  are  connected,  and  that  each 
is  almost  as  large  as  a  gas  tank.  Each  oven  has  a  little 
door  at  the  side,  and  a  hole  in  the  top  to  let  out  the  smoke. 

When  the  ovens  are  filled  with  coal,  the  doors  are  walled 
up  with  fire  brick,  and  by  means  of  wood  the  coal  of  the 
first  charge  is  lighted  just  as  a  coal  fire  is  lighted.  About 
thirty  minutes  later,  a  pale  blue  smoke  comes  out  of  the  top  ; 
it  soon  grows  darker;  and  within  less  than  an  hour  there 
is  a  puff  like  powder,  which  shows  that  the  coal  has  been 
lit.  The  coal  is  allowed  to  burn  for  about  seventy-two 
hours,  when  it  is  taken  out  and  a  fresh  charge  put  in.  The 
oven  is  now  hot  and  the  coal  lights  without  wood  or  other 
kindling. 

There  is  an  oven  burning  !  Look  into  it !  It  is  a  mass 
of  red-hot  coals.  The  heat  is  intense,  but  the  ovens  are 
so  made  that  very  little  air  can  reach  the  coal ;  and  it  there 
fore  burns  slowly,  and  many  of  the  gases  that  form  a  part 
of  it  are  driven  out.  One  of  the  gases  is  the  same  as  that 
we  use  for  lighting  our  houses.  The  coal  has  now  become 
coke. 

Coke  is  porous,  and  it  weighs  so  little  that  without  great 
effort  we  could  each  lift  a  bushel.  It  burns  easily  and 
furnishes  a  great  heat.  It  is  cooled  by  letting  cold  water 
into  the  top  of  the  oven.  It  is  dragged  from  the  oven 
with  a  great  iron  rake,  and  loaded  upon  the  cars  for  the 
furnaces. 


240 


PITTSBURGH 


But  there  is  a  trainload  of  coke  ready  to  start.  Let  us 
jump  upon  one  of  the  cars  and  go  with  it  to  Pittsburgh  to 
learn  how  iron  is  made.  We  shall  find  that  a  number  of 
processes  must  be  gone  through  with  before  the  rough 
ore,  as  we  saw  it  in  the  mines,  can  be  turned  into  the  ma 
terial  used  for  making  machinery.  We  have  already  learned 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pure  iron  in  nature,  and  that 


A  Blast  Furnace. 

the  ore  is  always  mixed  with  rock  and  other  minerals.  It 
is  by  smelting  that  these  are  taken  out,  and  the  iron  left 
in  the  form  needed  for  iron  and  steel  manufacture. 

One  of  the  chief  places  for  doing  this  thing  is  Pittsburgh. 
The  smelting  furnaces  are  immense  round  iron  tanks  or 
tubes  about  as  tall  as  a  six-story  house.  Into  them  is 
poured,  first  a  layer  of  iron  ore,  then  a  layer  of  coke,  and 
then  one  of  limestone.  After  that,  other  layers  of  iron  ore, 


PIG  IRON  241 

coke,  and  limestone  are  added  until  the  huge  vessel  is  filled. 
Limestone,  as  well  as  coke,  is  required  to  produce  the 
change  from  iron  ore  to  iron. 

Now  the  furnace  is  ready  for  the  fire.  But  an  ordinary 
fire  would  not  melt  iron  ore,  so  the  intense  heat  produced 
by  the  coke  is  increased  by  means  of  a  blast  or  draft  made 
by  an  enormous  smokestack,  until  it  becomes  so  hot  that 
the  coke,  limestone,  and  ore  melt  together,  and  form  one 
boiling  mass  of  liquid  fire.  Now  the  particles  of  iron,  as 
they  are  the  heaviest,  sink  to  the  bottom,  and  the  limestone, 
rock,  and  the  other  lighter  elements  of  the  ore  rise  to  the 
top,  forming  a  material  called  slag.  The  iron  is  soon  all 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  furnace,  and  is  ready  to  be  drawn 
out. 

Come  with  me  and  see  how  this  is  done.  At  the  bottom 
of  the  furnace  is  a  little  hole  which  has  been  stopped  up 
with  fire  clay  while  the  mixture  was  melting.  It  is  now 
opened,  and  a  red-hot  stream  of  liquid  iron  flows  forth. 
It  runs  out,  looking  like  a  little  river  of  molten  copper,  and 
falls  into  a  ditch  or  trough  of  sand.  As  it  does  so,  some  of 
the  slag  comes  with  it,  but  this  being  lighter  than  the  iron, 
rises  to  the  top,  and  is  turned  off  at  one  side,  into  another 
little  canal  higher  up  than  the  first,  by  means  of  a  dam 
with  a  hole  under  it  The  stream  of  pure  iron  passes  on 
through  underneath. 

The  iron  has  now  lost  the  copper  tinge  it  had  when  it 
came  from  the  furnace.  It  is  bright  yellow,  and  runs  off 
in  a  golden  stream  through  a  bed  of  sand  in  which  little 
holes  have  been  so  molded  that  it  looks  for  all  the  world 
like  a  garden  ready  for  planting.  The  holes  are  of  the  size 
and  shape  of  what  is  known  as  an  iron  pig,  a  piece  of  metal 
about  as  big  as  a  stick  of  stove  wood.  The  yellow  stream 
flows  into  them,  and  the  garden  is  soon  full  of  these  bright 


242 


PITTSBURGH 


yellow  pigs,  which,  as  they  cool,  become  darker,  and  finally 
change  to  the  gray  of  cold  pig  iron. 

Let  us  go  a  little  nearer  the  garden.  The  heat  waves 
are  dancing  over  the  iron,  and  it  is  so  hot  that  we  hold  up 
our  hats  to  keep  our  faces  from  scorching.  Nevertheless, 
the  furnace  men  are  moving  about  without  apparent  dis- 


Making  Pig  Iron. 

comfort.  They  are  turning  the  fiery  stream  this  way  and 
that,  and  making  it  reach  every  part  of  the  bed.  Some  of 
them  are  bare  to  the  waist,  and  beads  of  sweat  stand  out 
like  pearls  on  their  white  skins.  They  drink  great  quan 
tities  of  water,  and  perspire  freely;  for  if  they  did  not,  they 
would  soon  be  overcome  by  the  intense  heat. 

As  the  iron  grows  cold,  the  pigs  are  dragged  out  of 
the  sand  and  piled  up  in  stacks  ready  to  be  shipped  to 
different  parts  of  the  country,  or  to  be  used  in  the  mills 


DOWN  THE   OHIO  243 

near  by  for  making  steel,  and  in  all  kinds  of  iron  manu 
facture. 

The  slag  goes  to  waste.  It  is  poured  out,  fiery  and  boil 
ing,  into  a  big  iron  pot  fastened  to  car  wheels.  When  the 
pot  is  filled,  the  men  pull  it  over  a  railroad  track  some  dis 
tance  away,  and  empty  it  out  upon  the  slag  heap. 

We  spend  some  days  in  visiting  the  foundries  and  rolling 
mills  about  Pittsburgh,  studying  the  wonderful  processes  of 
turning  iron  into  steel.  We  see  them  rolling  out  the  steel 
rails  for  our  car  tracks,  manufacturing  the  steel  armor 
plate  which  protects  the  hulls  of  our  war  vessels  from  the 
cannon  of  the  enemy,  and  making  the  countless  other 
things  which  are  here  produced  from  iron  and  steel. 

We  cross  to  the  various  parts  of  the  city  on  the  many 
bridges  over  the  Allegheny,  Monongahela,  and  Ohio  rivers  ; 
and  inspect  the  dams  which  have  been  so  built  that  they 
deepen  the  waters,  giving  Pittsburgh  a  harbor  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  long.  There  are  steamers  at  the  wharves 
ready  to  start  down  the  Ohio,  and  we  take  passage.  We 
find  the  river  as  full  of  shipping  as  was  the  Mississippi. 
The  lumber  rafts  are  fewer,  but  there  are  scores  of  boats 
and  barges  and  other  vessels  loaded  with  coal.  The  coun 
try  through  which  we  pass  is  much  more  hilly  than  that  of 
the  lower  Mississippi.  The  farms  along  the  banks  are 
smaller.  The  houses  are  more  frequent,  and  there  are 
manufacturing  towns  at  every  few  miles. 

We  sail  by  settlement  after  settlement,  above  which  rise 
the  smokestacks  of  works  making  iron,  steel,  glass,  and 
machinery  of  various  kinds.  At  Steubenville  and  East 
Liverpool  we  stop  to  watch  the  manufacture  of  china  and 
pottery ;  and  at  Wheeling  and  Bellaire,  farther  south, 
visit  factories  where  glass  bottles  are  turned  out  in  vast 
quantities.  We  pass  many  workshops  on  the  banks  of  the 


244 


CINCINNATI 


river  as  we  go  onward,  and  we  learn  that  almost  every 
city  of  this  middle  section  of  our  country,  not  only  along 
the  rivers,  but  in  the  interior  away  from  them,  has  manu 
facturing  industries  of  one  kind  or  another. 

We  steam  on  down  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  and  there 
find,  so  many  factories  and   foundries  that  the   place  re- 


Cincinnati  Music  Hall. 

minds  us  of  Pittsburgh.  Cincinnati  has  about  eight  thou 
sand  manufacturing  establishments,  in  which  something 
like  one  hundred  thousand  men  are  employed.  It  has 
many  railroads,  and  its  location  on  the  Ohio,  at  the  south 
ern  end  of  the  Miami  Canal,  which  connects  it  with  Lake 
Erie,  gives  the  place  excellent  facilities  for  transportation 
by  water.  It  is  also  one  of  our  chief  railway  centers. 
We  visit  the  beautiful  residence  section  on  the  hills, 


FROM   CINCINNATI   TO   CHICAGO  245 

some  distance  back  from  the  river,  take  a  walk  across  the 
great  suspension  bridge  into  Kentucky,  and  then,  return 
ing  to  our  boat,  sail  on  down  to  Louisville. 

Here  we  visit  the  great  tobacco  market  and  tobacco 
factories,  for  which  the  city  is  noted,  and  then  take  a  ride 
outside  the  town  to  see  the  grave  of  President  Zachary 
Taylor,  who  was  buried  here  near  his  old  home,  five  miles 
away.  We  also  ask  some  questions  about  Audubon,  the 
great  friend  of  the  birds,  who  lived  for  a  time  in  this  city. 

Louisville  is  situated  at  the  upper  end  of  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio ;  but  a  canal  has  been  built  around  the  falls  so  that 
we  might  continue  our  boat  ride  on  the  river  down  into 
the  Mississippi,  but  we  decide  to  leave  the  steamer  and  to 
go  northward  by  rail.  Our  train  crosses  the  Ohio,  and 
after  a  ride  of  three  hours  lands  us  in  Indianapolis,  the 
capital  of  Indiana,  another  important  railroad  center  and  a 
thriving  commercial  and  manufacturing  city.  It  was  here 
that  Benjamin  Harrison,  the  twenty-third  president  of  the 
United  States,  lived ;  and  here  James  Whitcomb  Riley 
wrote  some  of  his  most  interesting  poetry.  We  go  to 
Monument  Place,  in  the  center  of  the  town,  to  look  at  the 
statues  of  the  great  men  which  stand  there,  visit  the  State 
Capitol  near  by,  and  then  drive  about  through  the  beautiful 
residence  sections,  after  which  we  take  a  train  for  Chicago. 


31.     THE   GREATEST  LAKE   PORT   IN   THE 
WORLD 


at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  at  the 
mouths  of  the  Chicago  and  Calumet  rivers,  is  the 
second  city  of  the  United  States.  It  has  a  population  of 
more  than  two  millions  ;  and  its  people  think  that  it  will 

CARP.    N.   A.  —  1  6 


246 


CHICAGO 


some  day  be  greater  than  New  York,  and  that  in  course 
of  time  it  may  rival  London.  Chicago  grows  so  fast  that 
to  know  exactly  how  many  people  it  has  one  would  have 
to  take  a  new  census  every  year.  It  is  not  old.  It  was 
founded  about  1830,  starting  with  a  few  huts  in  a  swamp. 
Seven  years  later  it  had  four  thousand  inhabitants,  and 


Lake  Front,  Chicago. 

they  called  it  a  city.  The  idea  of  a  city  in  such  a  place 
seemed  ridiculous,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States 
laughed  at  the  conceit  of  little  Chicago. 

The  Chicagoans,  however,  went  bravely  on,  and  in 
twenty  years  its  population  had  risen  to  ninety  thousand. 
The  citizens  now  began  to  show  the  great  enterprise  and 
push  for  which  they  have  always  been  noted.  The  ground 
was  so  swampy  that  no  cellars  could  be  dug  on  account  of 
the  water.  They  decided  to  lift  the  city  above  the  swamps 


THE   GREAT   FIRE  247 

and  give  it  a  solid  foundation.  So  they  propped  up  the 
houses  on  stilts,  and  brought  in  earth  from  the  surround 
ing  country,  raising  the  streets  at  least  ten  feet,  and  elevat 
ing,  as  it  were,  the  whole  city. 

Was  not  that  a  wonderful  feat  ? 

Yes;  but  that  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  enterprise 
Chicago  has  shown  from  that  day  to  this.  The  city  has 
gone  on  in  the  way  of  improvements,  until  it  is  one  of  the 
best-built  and  most  beautiful  cities  of  our  land.  The 
Chicagoans  are  still  noted  for  their  energy,  and  are  said  to 
work  faster  and  do  more  than  the  people  of  any  other  city 
of  the  world.  Every  one  is  in  a  hurry,  and  we  find  the 
bustle  even  greater  than  that  of  New  York. 

Have  you  heard  of  the  great  fire  which  burned  Chicago 
to  the  ground  in  1871  ?  The  city  then  contained  three 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants ;  and  like  all  new  places,  it 
was  made  up  of  fine  buildings  of  stone  and  brick,  stores 
and  houses  of  wood,  and  rickety  shanties,  all  mixed  to 
gether.  Then,  one  windy  night,  Mrs.  O'Leary,  an  Irish 
woman  living  in  the  suburbs,  went  to  her  stable  to  milk 
the  cow.  It  was  dark,  and  she  took  a  lamp  with  her. 
The  cow  kicked  over  the  lamp,  and  kindled  the  fire  which 
burned  the  business  part  of  the  city,  and  destroyed  two 
hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  property. 

The  kick  was  an  expensive  one,  but  it  was  a  good  thing 
for  Chicago,  after  all.  The  people  did  not  wait  until  the 
bricks  of  the  burning  city  were  cold  before  they  began  to 
rebuild,  and  the  new  houses  were  put  up  to  stay.  Even 
New  York  has  no  more  substantial  buildings  than  the 
best  business  blocks  of  Chicago.  They  are  huge  stone 
and  brick  structures  of  from  ten  to  twenty  or  more  stories 
high,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  fireproof.  The  insides  of  the 
buildings  are  of  steel.  The  steel  framework  is  entirely 


248  CHICAGO 

independent  of  the  walls,  and  the  central  part  of  Chicago 
has  become  a  city  of  iron  in  walls  of  stone. 

But  how  can  they  build  such  heavy  structures  on  a 
swamp  ?  The  people  failed  many  times  before  they  suc 
ceeded  in  providing  proper  foundations.  They  drove  great 
trees  or  piles  down  into  the  ground,  and  the  buildings  were 
constructed  upon  them,  as  in  the  cities  of  Holland.  But 
the  big  buildings  settled  unevenly,  and  the  people  feared 
they  would  topple  over  and  fall. 

Then  some  one  solved  the  problem  by  inventing  a 
foundation  of  steel  and  concrete.  The  site  of  the  structure 
was  first  covered  with  steel  rails  such  as  are  used  for 
car  tracks.  These  were  placed  side  by  side,  and  in  the 
spaces  between  a  mixture  of  cement  and  sand,  called 
concrete,  was  poured.  The  concrete  soon  hardened  and 
became  as  firm  as  a  rock.  Then  another  layer  of  rails  was 
placed  crosswise  on  top  of  the  first,  and  concrete  spread 
upon  that.  A  third  layer  followed,  and  so  on  until  the 
builders  thought  the  structure  would  support  the  enormous 
weight  which  was  to  rest  upon  it. 

Chicago  is  the  chief  lake  port  of  the  world.  Its  growth 
is  due  to  its  situation  at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  at 
the  point  where  goods  can  be  most  easily  shipped  to  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
where  it  can  distribute  the  grain  and  other  products  which 
come  from  the  West. 

The  plains  about  Chicago  are  rich.  It  is  near  the  enor 
mous  cornfields  and  wheat  lands  of  the  United  States, 
within  easy  access  of  the  richest  farming  and  stock-rearing 
parts  of  our  country.  There  are  also  vast  coal  deposits 
just  south  of  it,  and  it  is  within  reach  of  the  Appalachian 
coal  mines.  It  has  cheap  iron  ore  from  northern  Michigan 
and  about  Lake  Superior  which  can  be  brought  to  it  by 


(249)  "  Chicago  has  become  a  city  of  iron  in  walls  of  stone." 


250  CHICAGO 

water ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  lumber  from  the  great 
forests  not  far  away.  As  a  result  of  all  these  things,  it  has 
grown  to  be  the  greatest  city  of  the  interior  of  our  country 
and  one  of  the  chief  commercial  and  manufacturing  centers 
of  the  world. 

As  we  near  the  city,  we  pass  through  shady  suburban 
villages  above  which  rise  the  smokestacks  of  factories  of 
different  kinds.  The  manufacturing  works  increase  as  we 
go  on.  We  pass  enormous  steel  foundries,  huge  iron 
mills,  and  immense  shops  in  which  all  kinds  of  wood 
working  is  done.  Chicago  is  our  largest  lumber  market, 
and  it  makes  all  sorts  of  things  out  of  wood,  such  as  furni 
ture,  wagons,  window  sashes,  and  doors.  It  has  steel 
plants  and  rolling  mills,  and  one  of  its  great  harvester 
companies  annually  produces  almost  three  quarters  of  a 
million  wagons  and  farming  machines  of  one  kind  or  an 
other.  It  is  also  an  important  grain  center,  and  its  eleva 
tors  and  flouring  mills  compare  with  those  of  Minneapolis 
in  size. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  city  is  Pullman,  where 
hundreds  of  passenger  cars  and  sleeping  cars  and  many 
thousand  freight  cars  are  manufactured  each  year.  In 
the  stockyards,  as  we  shall  see,  when  we  visit  them  later  on, 
are  annually  killed  vast  numbers  of  hogs,  cattle,  and 
sheep,  the  meat  of  which  is  shipped  from  here  not  only  all 
over  the  United  States  but  also  to  other  parts  of  the  world. 

We  take  seats  upon  one  of  the  Seeing  Chicago  Automo 
biles  for  our  trip  through  the  city.  We  are  high  above 
the  rest  of  the  vehicles,  moving  rapidly  along  through 
street  after  street,  turning  our  heads  to  look  at  the  sights, 
as  the  conductor  shouts  out  his  information  about  them 
through  a  great  horn.  He  takes  us  through  the  chief 
business  sections  of  State,  Clark,  Madison,  Randolph, 


-  CHICAGO   STREETS  251 

Dearborn,  and  La  Salle  streets  and  shows  us  the  wholesale 
and  retail  establishments.  He  boastfully  says  that  Chicago 
is  the  greatest  of  our  commercial  centers,  and  that  one  of 
its  department  stores  is  the  largest  on  earth. 

We  ride  through  Washington,  Madison,  Jefferson,  and 
Adams  streets,  and  the  guide  tells  us  they  were  named 
after  the  Presidents.  He  adds  the  information  that  the 
children  here  are  so  proud  of  their  town  that  one  of  the 
schoolboys,  as  he  rode  along  these  same  streets  in  the  See 
ing  Automobile  not  long  ago,  wanted  to  know  of  his  father 
how  it  came  that  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States 
had  been  named  after  the  streets  of  Chicago.  We  laugh, 
for  we  know  the  Presidents  above  mentioned,  except  Madi 
son,  were  dead  before  Chicago  was  founded  in  1830.  Our 
guide  tells  us  the  city  is  a  favorite  meeting  place  for  the 
delegates  of  the  great  political  parties  when  they  come  to 
gether  to  nominate  their  candidates  for  the  presidency,  and 
that  the  national  conventions  which  chose  Lincoln,  Grant, 
Garfield,  Cleveland,  Harrison,  Roosevelt,  and  Taft  were  all 
held  in  Chicago. 

Later  in  our  ride  we  visit  some  parts  of  the  city  where 
the  finest  houses  are,  spinning  along  the  boulevards, 
going  by  the  magnificent  mansions  of  Prairie  and  Michi 
gan  avenues  and  up  and  down  the  Lake  Shore  Drive. 
Here  we  tarry  awhile  and  watch  the  many  boys  and  girls 
fishing  in  the  lake.  They  tell  us  the  fish  bite  greedily,  and 
that  Lake  Michigan  is  filled  with  the  finny  tribe.  We 
enter  the  Field  Museum,  and  spend  some  time  looking 
at  the  wonders  kept  there,  and  then  go  on  to  watch  a  foot 
ball  game  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  one  of  our  chief 
institutions  of  learning. 

During  our  stay  we  wander  about  among  manufacturing 
parts  of  the  city,  where  we  are  surprised  at  the  many 


252 


CHICAGO 


strange  faces  we  see.  The  workshops  employ  thousands 
of  foreigners  who  have  come  to  the  United  States  to  better 
themselves ;  and  some  of  them  have  not  yet  been  in  our 
country  long  enough  to  have  become  American  citizens. 
Chicago  has  also  many  thousand  others  who  were  born 
abroad,  although  they  are  now  true  Americans.  Indeed  it 
is  estimated  that  in  all  Chicago  not  more  than  one  fourth 
of  the  people  were  born  on  American  soil.  The  city  has 
more  than  a  half  million  Germans,  a  quarter  of  a  million 
Irish,  and  about  two  hundred  thousand  Scandinavians.  It 
has  a  like  number  of  Poles  and  Bohemians  and  thousands 
of  Italians,  English,  Scotch,  and  Canadians.  It  is  said  that 
there  are  fourteen  foreign  languages,  each  spoken  by  ten 
thousand  persons  or  more,  and  that  Chicago's  newspapers 
are  printed  in  ten  different  languages,  while  its  church 
services  are  held  in  twenty. 

Upon  asking,  we  learn  that  the  population  of  others  of 
our  great  cities  is  largely  made  up  of  foreigners,  and  it 
seems  important  that  they  should  be  taught  the  principles 
of  our  government  and  be  made  good  American  citizens. 


32.     THE    STOCKYARDS    OF    CHICAGO  — MIL 
WAUKEE 

THE  stockyards  of  Chicago  are  one  of  the  most  interest 
ing  sights  of  the  United  States.  This  city  is  the 
meat-packing  center  of  the  world,  and  its  chief  cattle 
market.  It  is  situated  in  the  northern  part  of  the  corn 
belt,  where  vast  numbers  of  cattle  and  hogs  are  reared  or 
fattened  for  the  market,  and  where  stock  from  all  the  great 


THE   STOCKYARDS 


253 


pasture  fields  of  our  western  states  can  be  shipped  over 
the  railroads.  Most  of  our  meat  business  lies  west  of  the 
Appalachians,  and  about  one  third  of  it  is  done  in  Chicago. 
Day  and  night,  and  every  hour  of  the  day,  trains  are  coming 
in  with  sheep,  cattle,  and  hogs,  and  at  the  same  time  other 
trains  are  starting  out,  carrying  beef,  pork,  and  mutton 


The  Stockyards. 

and  other  meat  products  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  to  the  seaboard  for  shipment  abroad.  The  very  ani 
mals  we  shall  see  this  morning  will,  within  a  few  days,  be 
on  the  dining  tables  of  New  York,  Pittsburgh,  Boston,  and 
other  American  cities  and  towns ;  and  within  a  week  or  so 
perhaps  some  of  them  may  be  eaten  in  London,  Berlin,  or 
Paris. 

But   let   us  take  a  look  at  the   stockyards.     They   are 
located  almost  in  the  center  of  Chicago,  although  quite  far 


254  CHICAGO 

off  from  its  chief  business  section.  We  can  go  to  them  on 
the  street  cars  for  five  cents. 

As  we  approach  the  yards,  we  hear  the  lowing  of  cows, 
the  grunting  of  hogs,  and  the  bleating  of  sheep.  At  times 
there  are  several  hundred  thousand  animals  in  the  yards, 
and  the  stock  is  changed  every  day.  In  a  single  year 
many  millions  of  sheep,  hogs,  and  cattle  pass  through 
these  pens. 

The  stockyards  make  us  think  of  a  city  of  animals 
within  a  city  of  men.  Railroad  tracks  lead  to  it,  and  there 
are  great  factories  about  it.  The  houses  of  this  animal 
city  are  merely  covered  and  uncovered  pens,  arranged 
along  streets  which  cross  one  another  at  right  angles. 
There  are  sections  and  wards,  and  each  section  has  its 
own  kind  of  animals.  Here  is  one  devoted  to  cattle,  the 
pens  of  which  hold  two  or  three  hundred  cows  each. 
Many  of  the  pens  have  no  roofs,  and  we  can  see  the  cows 
through  the  boards.  There  is  a  ward  filled  with  sheep. 
There  are  enough  little  lambs  in  it  to  supply  all  the  Marys 
of  our  town.  How  the  white,  woolly  creatures  bleat  and 
baa  as  we  pass  them.  Next  is  the  hog  ward,  containing 
tens  of  thousands  of  grunters. 

Look  into  the  pens.  Each  has  one  long  trough  for 
water,  and  another  for  food.  There  are  twenty-five  miles 
of  these  water  troughs  in  our  animal  city,  and  the  feeding 
boxes,  if  put  end  to  end,  would  reach  fifty  miles.  The 
water  is  from  artesian  wells  which  have  been  sunk  twelve 
hundred  feet  down  into  the  ground,  so  that  the  water 
supply  comes  from  below  the  bed  of  Lake  Michigan. 

Through  the  streets  of  this  city  are  railroad  tracks  for 
the  cars  which  bring  in  the  animals  and  take  them  off  to 
be  slaughtered.  There  is  a  canal  at  one  side,  upon  which 
are  boats  for  carrying  animals  in  from  and  out  to  the  lake. 


256 


CHICAGO 


What  is  that  immense  building  in  the  center  of  the  city  ? 
That  is  the  Exchange  Hall,  where  its  governors  have  their 
offices  and  where  men  come  to  buy  and  sell  the  four-footed 
citizens.  The  officials  are  tyrants,  the  most  bloodthirsty 
any  city  ever  knew.  They  fill  the  city  with  new  animals 
day  after  day,  only  to  kill  them ;  and  those  great  buildings 
which  surround  the  yards  are  the  slaughterhouses  and 
meat-packing  establishments,  in  which  the  beeves,  hogs, 
and  sheep  are  killed  and  turned  into  food  and  other  things 
for  the  use  of  man. 

Let  us  visit  the  packing  houses.  They  are  more  like 
great  factories  than  the  butchering  establishments  of  our 


Interior  of  a  Packing  House. 

villages.  We  follow  the  hogs.  They  go  in  alive  at  one 
end,  and  do  not  stop  until  they  come  out  at  the  other  in 
hams,  bacon,  sausage,  lard,  buttons,  and  hairbrushes.  We 


THE   PACKING   HOUSES  257 

find  that  every  part  of  the  body  is  used,  and  the  butchers 
tell  us  that  they  can  sell,  in  some  shape  or  other,  every  bit 
of  the  hog  but  his  squeal.  The  same  is  true  of  cows  and 
sheep,  scarcely  an  atom  of  meat,  bone,  blood,  or  hair  going 
to  waste. 

The  bones  of  the  animals  are  sorted,  and  manufactured 
into  various  articles.  The  skulls,  the  jawbones,  and  the 
teeth  are  used  by  bone  burners  and  bone  grinders.  The 
hip  bones,  horns,  and  shoulder  bones  are  turned  into  hair 
pins,  combs,  and  buttons.  The  bones  of  the  thigh  are  used 
to  make  handles  for  toothbrushes  and  other  things,  and  the 
hoofs  and  scraps  of  bofie  and  of  skin  are  of  value  for  glue. 

The  blood  is  sold  as  a  fertilizer.  The  hides  go  to  the 
tanners.  The  wool  is  pulled  from  the  sheepskins,  and  the 
skins  afterwards  used  for  making  gloves.  The  bristles  of 
the  hog  are  made  into  brushes,  and  the  brains  are  sold  for 
food.  Some  parts  of  the  beef  are  turned  into  medicines, 
extracts,  and  tonics.  Other  parts  are  canned  for  soups, 
and  out  of  the  refuse  come  candles,  soap,  and  a  variety  of 
other  things. 

Much  of  the  meat  is  sold  fresh,  being  shipped  over  the 
country  in  cold  storage  cars  and  kept  in  refrigerating 
rooms  until  market  day.  Many  of  our  cities  and  towns 
are  daily  supplied  with  fresh  meats  from  Chicago,  and 
others  from  Omaha,  Kansas  City,  St.  Joseph,  Fort  Worth, 
St.  Paul,  and  other  meat-packing  centers.  We  formerly 
sent  a  great  deal  of  fresh  meat  in  the  cold  chambers 
of  the  steamers  to  Europe,  where  it  arrived  in  as  good  a 
condition  as  when  it  left  the  packing-house  in  Chicago. 
Now  we  have  so  many  people  that  we  consume  almost  all 
of  our  fresh  meat  at  home,  although  we  ship  to  other  coun 
tries  canned  meats,  lard,  and  other  packing-house  prod 
ucts  worth  several  hundred  million  dollars  a  year. 


258 


MILWAUKEE 


Leaving  Chicago,  we  take  a  short  ride  across  the  southern 
end  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Milwaukee,  another  meat-pack 
ing  center.  It  is  the  largest  city  of  Wisconsin,  and  is  noted 
for  its  commerce  and  manufactures  of  various  kinds.  The 
city  lies  on  the  lake  at  the  mouth  of  the  Milwaukee  River ; 
and  its  excellent  harbor  is  so  guarded  by  breakwaters  that 
the  largest  lake  vessels  can  enter  the  river  and  unload  at 
the  doors  of  the  warehouses.  We  see  ships  filled  with 


On  the  Boulevard,  Chicago. 

grain,  flour,  coal,  and  hides  at  the  wharves,  and  other  vessels 
are  taking  on  lumber  and  various  things. 

Milwaukee  makes  a  great  deal  of  iron  and  heavy  machin 
ery.  It  grinds  thousands  of  barrels  of  flour  a  day,  and  it 
produces  several  million  barrels  of  beer  every  year.  We 
visit  the  mills,  breweries,  and  the  factories  which  make 
light  yellow  bricks,  and  then  drive  about  through  the 


THE   WONDERLAND   OF   AMERICA  259 

business  and  residence  parts,  observing  that  much  of  the 
town  is  built  of  cream-colored  brick,  from  which  it  has  been 
called  the  "  cream  city."  Another  of  Milwaukee's  names 
is  the  German  Athens  of  America.  This  comes  from  its 
many  German  citizens,  who  are  noted  for  their  education 
and  culture.  Some  of  the  chief  newspapers  are  printed  in 
German,  and  it  has  several  German  theaters  and  concert 
halls. 


33.  THE  WONDERS  AND  TREASURES  OF 
THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  REGION 

THE  Rocky  Mountains  form  what  is  often  called  the  roof 
of  the  North  American  continent.  As  we  travel  from 
Milwaukee  westward,  we  pass  through  some  of  our  richest 
corn  and  wheat  regions  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  then 
continue  our  journey  over  other  rich  plains  for  one  thou 
sand  miles.  We  rise  steadily  until  we  come  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  at  Denver. 

Although  it  is  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  Denver  is 
only  about  one  thousand  feet  lower  than  the  top  of  Mount 
Washington.  Pikes  Peak,  which  we  see  as  we  near  the 
end  of  our  railroad  ride,  is  almost  two  miles  higher  than 
Denver,  and  nearly  three  miles  above  the  level  of  Wash 
ington,  New  York,  or  New  Orleans. 

Pikes  Peak  is  one  of  the  highest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
It  was  named  after  Major  Zebulon  Pike,  who  tried  to  climb 
it  more  than  ninety  years  ago,  but  was  obliged  to  turn  back, 
sadly  remarking  that  nothing  but  a  bird  could  reach  that 
snowy  summit. 

But  we  shall  reach  the  top  of  Pikes  Peak,  riding  there 


260  THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 

at  our  ease  in  the  cars.  A  railroad  has  been  built  up  that 
mighty  mountain.  The  road  is  much  like  the  one  over 
which  we  traveled  in  ascending  Mount  Washington.  The 
little  steam  engine  pushes  us  up,  up,  up,  until  we  at  last 
step  out  of  the  car  at  a  height  of  almost  three  miles  above 
the  sea.  Near  the  top  are  patches  of  snow  such  as  often 


The  Garden  of  the  Gods. 

exist  here  even  in  summer.     We  make  snowballs  and  have 
a  snow  fight  while  we  stay. 

As  we  stand  upon  Pikes  Peak,  we  see  a  wonderful  pan 
orama  of  mountains  and  valleys.  Stretching  to  the  east 
ward  are  the  great  plains,  dotted  with  villages  and  cities, 
through  which  we  have  just  passed.  They  are  mere  specks 
on  the  landscape.  At  our  feet  is  the  Garden  of  the  Gods, 
a  valley  filled  with  huge  rock  formations,  but  so  far  down 
that  it  looks  like  a  flower  bed.  To  the  west  rise  hill  upon 
hill  and  mountain  on  mountain,  looking  like  piles  of  rocks 
of  gigantic  size,  thrown  together  in  all  sorts  of  shapes. 


THE   WONDERLAND    OF   AMERICA  261 

As  we  stand  here,  the  clouds  are  floating  about  and  be 
low  us.  Now  they  sweep  upward,  and  for  a  time  we  are 
enveloped  in  mist.  Now  there  is  a  thunderstorm  far  down 
the  mountain  side.  The  lightning  flashes  against  the  rocks, 
and  we  hear  the  deep  roll  of  the  thunder  as  the  clouds 
burst  on  the  mountains. 

This  Rocky  Mountain  region  is  the  wonderland  of 
America.  There  is  no  other  place  in  the  world  where  we 


Scene  in  Yellowstone  Park. 

can  see  so  many  marvelous  things.  It  has  waterfalls 
higher  than  Niagara,  deserts  almost  as  dry  and  dreary  as 
the  Sahara,  great  forests  which  have  been  turned  into 
stone,  and  other  forests  whose  trees  are  so  big  th.at  a  very 
large  schoolroom  could  be  cut  out  inside  the  trunk  of  one 
of  them  and  leave  room  to  spare. 

In  Alaska,  at  the  northern   end   of  this  great  mountain 
region,  are  glaciers  more  wonderful  than  those  of  the  Alps; 
and  in  its  southern  part  are  the  mighty  volcanoes  of  Mexico, 
which  vomit  forth  lava,  sulphur,  and  red-hot  stones. 
CARP.  N.  A.  — 17 


262 


THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 


Within  a  radius  of  five  hundred  miles  of  Pikes  Peak  lie 
three  of  our  great  natural  wonders.  At  the  northwest  are 
the  hot  springs  and  geysers  of  the  Yellowstone  Park; 
almost  directly  west,  and  at  about  the  same  distance,  is 
the  Dead  Sea  of  America,  the  Great  Salt  Lake  of  Utah  ; 

and  farther  south 
lies  the  Grand  Can 
yon  of  the  Colorado, 
the  most  wonderful 
river  valley  known 
to  man. 

The  Colorado 
River  rises  among 
the  clouds  near  the 
snowy  peaks  of  the 
mountains.  It  bur 
rows  its  way  down 
through  the  high 
plains,  cutting  out 
a  trough  or  gorge 
which  in  one  place 
is  more  than  a  mile 
deep,  and  finally 
flows  out  into  the 
ocean  through  the  Gulf  of  California.  It  has  numerous 
falls,  many  rapids,  and  in  places  is  a  raging  torrent.  The 
scenery  about  it  beggars  description.  The  high  walls  of 
rock  which  form  its  banks  are  colored  in  the  brightest 
tints  of  red,  chocolate,  yellow,  and  gray  ;  and  they  rise  in 
such  shapes  that,  as  one  floats  down  its  boiling  current, 
he  seems  to  be  flying  by  mighty  cities,  dashing  under  huge 
forts,  and  past  enormous  cathedrals.  At  times  the  clouds 
gather  over  the  top  of  the  gorge,  and  he  floats  on  in  the 


The  Grand  Canyon. 


TREASURE   VAULTS    OF   THE    ROCKIES  263 

darkness.  Then  the  clouds  break  and  the  clear  blue  sky 
shows  through. 

The  region  along  the  Colorado  River  is  for  the  most 
part  rock  and  desert,  with  but  little  vegetation  except 
sagebrush  and  cactus.  This  is  the  character  of  much  of 
our  great  western  plateau.  We  find  rocks  of  all  kinds 
piled  together  in  cliffs  several  thousand  feet  high,  or  cut 
down  into  canyons  thousands  of  feet  deep.  There  are  hills 
of  rock,  mountains  of  rock,  valleys  which  are  rocky  deserts, 
and  rocky  plateaus  upon  which  we  might  travel  for  days 
without  finding  water. 

This  is  all  very  wonderful,  is  it  not  ? 

Yes ;  but  after  a  while,  when  we  visit  the  Yellowstone 
Park,  we  shall  find  something  more  wonderful  still. 

We  shall  see  many  strange  things  above  ground,  and  by 
going  down  into  the  earth  may  visit  gold  and  silver  mines 
such  as  can  be  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world.  You  may 
have  read  in  the  "  Arabian  Nights "  about  the  cave  of 
Aladdin,  which  was  filled  with  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
stones.  That  cave  existed  only  in  the  mind  of  the  man 
who  wrote  the  story.  The  treasure  vaults  we  are  to  visit 
are  real  treasure  vaults,  from  which  gold  and  silver  worth 
millions  of  dollars  have  been  taken  and  which  are  now 
yielding  millions  more. 

From  their  beginning  in  Alaska,  southward  through  the 
western  part  of  the  North  American  continent  to  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  the  mountains  have  many  veins  and 
beds  of  gold  and  silver.  Not  far  from  Pikes  Peak,  rocks 
are  sometimes  dug  up  which  are  so  full  of  gold  that  if  you 
roast  them  the  precious  metal  will  bubble  out  and  stand  up 
like  golden  pinheads  upon  the  dark  stone.  In  one  mine 
near  Leadville,  Colorado,  gold  is  found  in  the  form  of  thin 
sheets  and  plates,  squeezed  in  between  the  rocks ;  and  in 


264  THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 

the  Sierra  Nevada  Range  are  vast  bodies  of  white  quartz 
with  little  veins  of  gold  running  through  them.  The  gold 
is  sometimes  so  mixed  with  the  rock  that  it  has  to  be 
ground  to  powder  and  chemically  treated  before  it  can  be 
gotten  out,  and  the  rock  itself  is  often  melted  to  extract 
the  gold. 

The  first  gold  found  in  the  West  was  taken  from  the 
rivers.  The  sand  of  many  mountain  streams  is  mixed 
with  gold  dust,  or  grains  and  lumps  of  gold.  In  1848 
James  Marshall,  while  digging  a  race  for  a  sawmill  on 
the  banks  of  the  American  River  in  California,  found  some 
bits  of  yellow  metal  which  turned  out  to  be  gold.  The 
news  spread,  and  within  nine  months  thousands  of  miners 
were  washing  the  dirt  along  the  banks  of  the  California 
rivers.  In  less  than  a  year  more  than  five  million  dollars' 
worth  of  gold  had  been  dug  up ;  and  within  four  years 
more  than  two  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  had  been 
washed  out  of  the  streams  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  Upon 
hearing  the  news  of  this,  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
rushed  to  California. 

Then  gold  was  found  in  the  mountains  farther  to  the 
eastward ;  and  it  is  now  known  that  there  are  gold  and 
silver  in  every  one  of  the  states  and  territories  of  this 
region.  Since  Marshall  made  his  discovery,  more  than  two 
billion  dollars'  worth  of  gold,  and  over  one  billion  dollars' 
worth  of  silver,  have  been  dug  out  of  the  Rockies.  Hun 
dreds  of  towns  have  sprung  up  in  the  mountains  to  ac 
commodate  the  miners,  and  Denver,  San  Francisco,  and 
other  cities  have  come  into  being. 

At  first  the  miners  washed  out  the  gold-bearing  earth  in 
pans,  then  they  used  cradles  or  troughs  which  could  be 
rocked  back  and  forth,  and  later  they  conducted  the 
streams  down  the  mountains  to  the  mines,  and  by  hose 


A  VISIT   TO   A   GOLD   MINE  265 

threw  the  water  against  the  sides  of  the  hills  to  wash  down 
the  gold-bearing  gravels.  This  last  method  is  called 
hydraulic  mining.  They  also  built  flumes,  or  troughs,  into 
which  they  turned  the  streams.  On  the  bottoms  of  the 
troughs  sticks  were  nailed,  and  quicksilver  placed  there. 
Then  the  precious  earth  was  thrown  in.  The  water  washed 
away  the  mud ;  but  as  it  went,  the  grains  and  dust  of  gold 


Hydraulic  Mining. 

fell  to  the  bottom,  to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  quicksilver, 
which  dissolves  pure  gold  and  gathers  it  into  itself  as  water 
does  sugar. 

But  all  this  mining  which  we  have  so  far  described  re 
lates  only  to  the  loose  gold  made  by  the  wearing  away  of 
the  rocks  in  which  the  metal  is.  The  miners  soon  began  to 
hunt  for  the  rocks  themselves  and  to  crush  them  to  get  the 
gold  out.  It  is  from  such  mining  that  the  most  of  our 
gold  now  comes. 


266  THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 


34.    A   VISIT   TO    A    GOLD    MINE 

TO-DAY  we  shall  first  go  down  into  one  of  the  great 
gold  mines  of  Colorado,  and  see  something  of  the 
enormous  work  it  takes  to  get  this  precious  ore  out  of  the 
earth.  We  shall  then  follow  it  to  the  mill,  and  learn  how 
the  gold  is  taken  out  of  the  rock  with  which  it  is  mixed. 

Our  mine  is  situated  high  up  in  the  mountains,  more 
than  two  miles  above  the  sea,  and  not  far  from  Pikes  Peak. 
As  we  ride  to  it  on  our  donkeys,  we  wonder  how  the 
miners  could  tell  there  was  any  gold  there.  On  our  way, 
however,  we  see  hundreds  of  holes  which  have  been  dug 
by  the  men  who  failed  to  find  gold,  and  we  are  told  that 
many  men  search  in  vain  for  days,  weeks,  and  years  to 
discover  new  mines.  Gold,  as  you  know,  does  not  exist 
everywhere,  and  it  is  only  when  veins  of  rich  gold-bearing 
rock  are  discovered  that  it  pays  to  sink  the  shafts  and 
make  the  tunnels  which  are  usually  needed  to  get  the  ore 
out. 

At  last  we  come  to  the  mine.  The  building  above  it 
looks  more  like  a  big  factory  than  anything  else.  It  con 
tains  an  immense  steam  engine,  and  hoisting  machinery  to 
lift  the  cars  of  ore  up  out  of  the  ground.  The  building  is 
known  as  the  shaft  house,  and  the  hole  which  goes  down 
into  the  mine  is  called  the  shaft.  The  shaft  of  this  mine 
is  about  eight  feet  square,  and  almost  as  deep  as  the 
Washington  Monument  is  high.  Elevators  are  always 
moving  up  it,  bringing  out  the  rock  which  contains  the 
gold.  We  can  jump  on  the  elevator  and  go  down  into  the 
mine.  The  shaft  is  sunk  just  at  the  side  of  the  vein  of 
gold-bearing  rock,  and  from  it  tunnels  are  dug  off  here  and 
there  into  the  vein  to  extract  the  ore. 


A  VISIT   TO   A   GOLD    MIXE, 


267 


Each  tunnel  has  a  little  railroad,  and  the  golden  rock  is 
loaded  into  iron  cars  of  about  the  size  of  a  dry  goods  box. 
Each  car  holds  a  ton  of  ore,  and  when  it  is  filled  it  is 
pushed  upon  the  elevator,  and  a  signal  to  the  engineer 
brings  it  to  the  top. 

A  car  is  being  taken  off  as  we  reach  the  shaft  house, 
and  the  manager  of  the  mine  directs  us  to  step  on  the 
elevator.  He  signals  the  engineer,  and  we  start  down  into 
the  mine.  Within  a  few  seconds 
we  are  far  below  the  surface. 
The  darkness  of  the  shaft  is  so 
dense  we  can  almost  feel  it,  and 
we  huddle  together  in  fear. 

We  drop  sixty-five  feet  before 
we  come  to  the  first  level.  Here 
we  see  a  score  of  dirty  miners, 
each  holding  a  candle,  whose  light 
makes  him  look  almost  ghostlike 
against  the  darkness  of  the  tun 
nel  at  the  back.  They  have  a 
carload  of  ore  which  they  want 
to  send  to  the  top.  We  now 
drop  to  a  second  level,  sixty-five 
feet  below  this,  where  another 
huge  tunnel  has  been  cut  out  of 
the  mountain  ;  and  at  last,  at  the 
fifth  tunnel,  three  hundred  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  we  leave  the  elevator. 

The  miners  lend  us  their  candles,  and  as  we  walk  along, 
the  manager  points  out  the  vein  of  rock  which  contains 
the  gold.  It  looks  just  like  slate,  and  seems  to  be  a  sand 
wich  of  slate  between  walls  of  other  rock  running  slant 
wise  down  into  the  earth.  How  deep  it  goes  no  one  can 


'Far  below  the  surface." 


268  THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 

tell.  The  tunnels  are  pipes  of  rock  cut,  as  it  were,  out  of 
the  golden  meat  of  the  sandwich. 

As  we  go  on  through  the  tunnel,  we  see  how  difficult  it 
is  to  get  out  the  ore.  Here  a  miner  works  by  the  light  of 
a  tallow  candle.  He  has  a  piece  of  steel  as  big  around  as 
a  broomstick  in  his  hand,  and  about  as  long.  He  is  pound 
ing  it  with  a  hammer,  moving  it  around  and  around,  mak 
ing  a  hole  in  the  rock.  Now  he  lays  down  his  tools,  and 
takes  up  what  looks  like  a  big  candle,  and  sticks  it  into 
the  hole.  Notice  how  carefully  he  handles  the  candle. 
It  is  well  he  does  so,  for  it  is  dynamite,  and  should  it 
go  off  it  would  blow  us  to  pieces.  He  is  using  it  to 
blast  down  the  rock.  Now  he  connects  a  fuse  with  it, 
and  packs  the  earth  tightly  abou  it.  He  lights  the  fuse, 
and  the  manager  tells  us  to  run.  We  do  so,  and  are  in  a 
side  tunnel  when  a  terrible  explosion  occurs.  The  very 
earth  seems  to  shake,  and  the  air  is  blown  so  that  our 
candles  go  out,  although  we  are  now  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
away.  We  hear  the  rock  fall,  and  returning  find  the 
miners  digging  it  out  with  picks,  and  throwing  it  into  holes 
in  the  bottom  of  the  tunnel  which  extend  down  to  the  cars 
in  the  tunnel  below. 

The  ore,  as  it  is  loaded  upon  the  car,  looks  for  all  the 
world  like  ordinary  rock.  We  can  see  no  signs  of  gold 
about  it,  and  still  each  ton  of  that  rock  contains  from  ten 
dollars  to  several  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  gold.  Some 
parts  of  the  vein  are  richer  than  others,  and  some  of  the 
ore  is  so  valuable  that  it  is  put  in  sacks  by  itself,  a  little 
half-bushel  sack  of  the  rock  being  worth  as  much  as  ten 
thousand  dollars. 

Different  kinds  of  ore  need  different  treatments  to  ex 
tract  the  gold.  The  rich  ore  goes  to  the  smelters,  where  it 
is  put,  with  certain  other  materials,  into  furnaces,  and  so 


A   VISIT   TO   A   GOLD   MIXE  269 

melted  that  the  gold  is  extracted.  Other  ores  are  treated 
by  chemicals  in  various  ways ;  and  much  of  the  low-grade 
ore,  or  that  which  contains  only  small  quantities  of  gold,  is 
sent  to  the  cyanide  mills.  This  process  is  an  important 
one,  for  it  enables  us  to  save  much  gold  which  was  formerly 
lost. 

Let  us  go  to  the  top  of  the  shaft,  and  ride  on  an  ore  car 
to  the  cyanide  mill.  The  car  is  filled  "with  granite  and 
broken  stones  of  different  colors.  Pick  up  a  piece  of 
rock  from  any  part  of  the  load  on  which  we  are  sitting. 
You  might  put  it  under  a  microscope,  and  not  see  a  glint 
of  yellow,  or  anything  which  to  your  eyes  would  indicate 
gold.  Still,  that  rock  will  average  half  an  ounce,  or  about 
ten  dollars'  worth  of  gold  to  the  ton.  In  it  only  one  atom 
in  many,  many  thousands  is  gold.  The  question  is  how  to 
get  the  gold  out. 

The  superintendent  of  the  works  explains  this  as  we 
ride  on  the  car  up  to  the  mill.  The  engine  drags  us  over 
a  trestlework  track  to  the  top  of  the  building.  The  rock 
is  thus  taken  to  the  top  in  order  that  it  may  be  carried 
from  one  level  to  another  by  means  of  gravity. 

We  look  down  upon  the  load  as  we  go  on.  There  are 
specks  of  stone  as  small  as  the  head  of  a  pin,  and  immense 
bowlders  weighing  hundreds  of  pounds.  All  must  be 
crushed  to  powder  before  the  ore  can  be  worked  in  the 
cyanide  process. 

The  cars  stop  at  the  top,  where  the  ore  is  thrown  into 
what  looks  like  a  gigantic  coffee  mill ;  it  is  as  big  around 
as  a  hogshead,  but  not  at  all  deep.  As  the  rock  falls  into 
it,  the  great  steel  teeth  of  the  mill  seize  the  stones  and 
grind  them  to  pieces.  We  imagine  we  hear  them  groan  as 
they  are  crushed,  and  shudder  at  the  thought  of  getting 
into  the  jaws  of  the  machinery.  This  mill  grinds  the  ore 


270 


THE   ROCKY  MOUNTAIN    REGION 


to  the  size  of  a  walnut.  It  then  passes  into  another,  which 
cuts  it  into  pieces  no  bigger  than  a  pea,  and  it  is  then 
ready  for  the  drier. 

Every  molecule  of  moisture  must  be  taken  out  of  the  ore 
before  it  can  be  ground  to  powder.  This  is  done  by  pass 
ing  it  through 
huge  steel  tubes 
fifty  feet  long  and 
as  big  around 
as  a  flour  barrel. 
Through  these 
tubes  flames  of 
gas  continually 
blow,  and  the 
heat  takes  all  the 
moisture  out  of 
the  rock. 

Now  an  ele 
vator  of  iron 
buckets,  much 

like  that  we  saw  in  the  flour  mills  during  our  travels  in  the 
bread  lands,  carries  the  ore  again  to  the  top  of  the  works, 
where  it  is  emptied  into  steel  crushers,  which  grind  it  to 
powder.  The  ore  which  we  first  examined  as  broken  rock 
has  now  become  a  flour.  It  seems  like  dust,  but  each  grain 
of  it  contains  a  bit  of  gold,  and  so  the  dust  is  of  value. 
The  rock  was  hard  and  rough.  The  dust  is  so  soft  and 
fine  we  can  rub  it  to  and  fro  in  our  hands  without  scratch 
ing  the  skin,  and  it  looks  much  like  pumice  stone  powdered. 
It  has,  however,  no  gleam  of  gold,  and  were  it  on  the  road 
we  should  walk  over  it  without  thinking. 

Now  out  of  each  of  the  grains  of  dust  the  gold  is  to  be 
taken.     This  will  be  done  by  giving  it  a  bath  in  a  solution 


Rock  Crusher. 


A   VISIT   TO   A   GOLD   MINE  271 

of  cyanide  of  potassium  and  water.  Cyanide  of  potassium 
is  a  chemical  which  looks  like  alum.  When  dissolved  in 
water,  it  has  such  an  attraction  for  gold  that  if  there  is  any 
gold  in  anything  which  it  touches,  the  gold  will  melt  into  the 
fluid  and  become  a  part  of  it,  just  as  sugar  or  salt  goes  into 
water.  The  dust  with  the  gold  in  it  is  put  into  circular 
tanks  of  steel,  about  as  high  as  your  waist,  and  so  large 
around  that  you  could  not  get  one  of  them  into  an  ordinary 
schoolroom.  Then  the  cyanide  water  is  let  in.  We  can 
see  it  flowing  out  of  the  pipes  into  the  golden  flour.  It 
looks  just  like  water;  but  if  we  should  taste  it,  it  would 
surely  kill  us,  for  the  cyanide  is  poisonous.  As  it  runs 
through  the  flour,  it  turns  the  latter  into  a  great  pot  of 
brown  mush  or  mud.  It  would  make  good  mud  pies  ;  but 
they  would  be  pies  seasoned  with  gold.  As  the  cyanide 
water  goes  through  it,  the  gold  leaves  the  mud  and  passes 
into  the  water,  which  is  then  drawn  off  through  the  bottom 
of  the  tank. 

Come  down  below  and  watch  it  as  it  flows  out.  There 
is  still  no  sign  of  gold.  But  we  shall  follow  the  cyanide 
stream  and  learn  that  it  is  really  there,  for  we  shall  see  the 
gold  gotten  out.  We  have  seen  how  fond  cyanide  is  of  gold. 
We  now  .find  that  it  likes  zinc  even  better.  The  golden 
water  is  run  into  boxes  filled  with  zinc  shavings,  which  look 
for  all  the  world  like  the  excelsior  we  use  for  packing.  As 
the  water  touches  these  shavings,  the  cyanide  attacks  the 
zinc  and  drops  the  gold  so  that  when  the  water  is  drawn 
off  the  gold  is  left  on  the  corroded  zinc.  The  shavings 
are  now  washed  to  get  off  the  gold  ;  and  the  dirty  zinc  and 
gold  are  so  smelted  in  a  furnace  that  when  the  mouth  of 
the  furnace  containing  them  is  opened,  a  fiery  stream 
pours  forth,  which,  being  run  into  a  mold,  soon  hardens 
into  a  brick  of  gold  as  pure  as  the  finest  wedding  ring. 


272 


THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 


As  we  travel  on  through  the  Rockies,  we  find  gold-mining 
camps  almost  everywhere  ;  and  away  off  in  the  mountains, 
hundreds  of  miles  from  any  city,  we  see  men  going  from 
place  to  place,  digging,  or  prospecting,  for  gold. 

We  discover  that  the  United  States  is  still  one  of  the 
chief  gold-producing  countries  of  the  world,  and  that  in 
some  years  it  yields  so  much  that  if  it  were  all  equally 
divided,  it  could  supply  a  five-dollar  gold  piece  to  every 
family  in  our  country,  and  there  would  yet  be  some 
left.  There  is  some  gold  found  in  our  eastern  states, 
and  much  is  mined  in  the  Black  Hills  region  of  South 
Dakota;  but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  product  comes 


Prospecting  for  Gold. 

from  this  high  plateau  where  we  are  now.  Gold  veins  are 
to  be  found  not  only  in  the  main  body  of  the  United  States, 
but  also  on  that  part  of  these  highlands  running  north 
through  Canada  and  in  our  territory  of  Alaska,  which  is 


A    DAY   IN   A   SILVER   MINE  '    /       273 

now  producing  vast  quantities  of  this  precious  metal  every 
year. 

Now  and  then  we  meet  a  prospector  or  gold  hunter,  a 
miner  who  goes  over  the  country  searching  for  new  gold 
discoveries.  He  often  travels  on  foot  with  his  shovel  and 
pick,  his  gun,  his  cooking  utensils,  provisions,  and  blankets 
loaded  upon  a  little  donkey,  or  burro,  not  larger  than  a 
Shetland  pony. 

He  sleeps  in  the  open  air,  and  shoots  such  game  as  he 
can  to  help  out  his  food.  He  looks  carefully  at  the  rocks 
as  he  travels,  and  now  and  then  digs  near  the  streams  and 
washes  the  earth  to  see  if  it  has  gold  in  it.  If  he  finds 
any,  he  tries  to  learn  where  it  came  from,  following  the 
signs  until  he  reaches  the  quartz  or  mother  lode  from  where 
it  was  washed  away. 


35.     A    DAY    IN    A    SILVER    MINE 

YESTERDAY  we  spent  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  sur 
rounded  by  gold.  To-day  we  are  to  visit  one  of  the 
richest  of  our  silver  mines.  The  United  States  and  Mexico 
produce  more  silver  than  any  other  countries.  There  are 
mining  towns  which  are  built  over  beds  of  silver-bearing 
rock,  in  which  paying  mines  might  be  sunk  by  digging 
under  the  principal  streets.  That  is  the  case  with  Lead- 
ville,  which  is  in  one  of  the  chief  silver  regions  of  Colorado. 

The  mine  we  shall  enter  to-day  is  still  farther  west.  It 
is  located  in  the  Wasatch  Mountains,  near  Park  City,  Utah, 
and  it  has  already  produced  more  than  thirty  million  dollars' 
worth  of  silver. 

We  ride  through  the  muddy  streets  of  Park  City  and  up 


274 


THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 


the  narrow  gulch  behind  it,  past  great  works  which  are 
crushing  the  ore  to  extract  the  silver,  and  on  up  to  the  big 
barnlike  buildings  which  contain  the  machinery  for  getting 
the  ore  out  of  the  mine. 

Here  there  is  a  shaft  like  that  by  which  we  descended 
into  the  gold  mine.     The  ore  forms  a  great  vein  of  silver- 


Mining  District  —  Leadville. 

bearing  rock  between  walls  of  other  rock.  No  one  knows 
how  far  down  into  the  earth  this  silver  vein  goes.  The 
shaft  which  has  been  sunk  beside  it  extends  about  one  third 
of  a  mile,  and  at  levels  one  hundred  feet  apart  tunnels  have 
been  dug  into  the  vein  to  extract  the  ore.  These  tun 
nels  are  from  four  to  six  feet  in  width,  and  so  high  that  we 
can  walk  through  them  without  stooping.  From  the  tunnels 
the  miners  have  worked  upward  along  the  vein,  blasting  out 
great  caves  and  rooms  in  the  mountain,  all  of  which  have 
been  walled  and  roofed  with  timbers  to  keep  the  earth  from 
falling  in. 


A   DAY  IN    A   SILVER   MINE  275 

A  good  idea  of  a  silver  mine  might  be  had  from  a  big 
apartment  house  or  office  building.  Take  this  mine,  for  in 
stance.  It  has  fifteen  stories,  each  one  hundred  feet  high. 
In  the  shaft  is  an  elevator  which  a  steam  engine  raises  and 
lowers,  carrying  the  ore  and  miners  from  story  to  story. 
At  each  level  a  tunnel  runs  off  through  the  vein  and  con 
nects  with  the  rooms,  or  stopes,  as  they  are  called  by  the 
miners.  The  tunnels  are  the  halls  of  this  mining  flat,  and 
the  stopes  are  its  rooms,  dug  upward  and  outward  in  re 
moving  the  ore.  Each  tunnel  has  a  little  railroad  running 
through  it,  and  there  are  about  fifty  miles  of  such  tunnels 
in  the  mine. 

The  ore  cars  are  of  iron.  They  are  always  loaded  by 
gravity.  The  tunnel  of  each  story  is  connected  with  that 
of  the  story  below  by  a  long  chute  or  pipe  cut  out  at  such 
an  angle  that  the  ore  dumped  in  above  will  fall  down  into 
the  car  placed  at  the  lower  end  of  the  chute  in  the  tunnel 
below.  This  saves  the  labor  of  lifting  «the  ore. 

But  the  manager  is  ready  to  take  us  into  the  mine.  Two 
cars,  each  containing  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  silver  ore, 
have  just  been  wheeled  off  the  elevator,  and  we  are  told  to 
step  on. 

As  we  do  so,  the  manager  signals  the  engineer,  and  we 
start  down  into  the  earth.  We  drop  at  once  into  the  dark 
ness,  descending  as  fast  as  though  in  the  elevator  of  a 
Chicago  hotel.  We  are  warned  to  keep  close  within  the 
cage,  as  a  hand  or  a  head  might  be  taken  off  by  a  project 
ing  timber.  We  grasp  the  iron  rail  above  us,  and  hold  on 
for  dear  life,  trying  to  shrink  ourselves  inward  as  we  go 
down,  down,  down.  Now  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  candle 
in  an  opening  as  we  pass  one  of  the  levels.  Now  our  ears 
are  dinned  by  the  blasting,  and  the  sound  so  shakes  the 
air  that  our  candles  go  out.  We  light  them  again  when 


276  THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 

we  fall  to  the  next  level,  and  the  faces  of  the  miners  about 
us  look  weird  in  their  flickering  glare. 

The  danger  makes  us  shudder,  and  we  feel  at  times  as 
though  we  were  on  the  very  edge  of  the  grave.  We  tremble 
still  more  at  the  sixth  level,  when  a  miner  steps  on  with  a 
box  of  dynamite  candles.  The  box  is  not  more  than  two 
feet  square,  but  it  has  enough  dynamite  in  it  to  blow  up  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  There  is  no  cover  on  it,  and  as  the 
man  places  it  close  to  our  feet,  we  think  of  the  terrible  pos 
sibilities.  We  are  five  hundred  feet  under  the  ground. 
Suppose  a  rock  should  drop  from  the  top  into  that  dyna 
mite  !  We  can  feel  our  hair  rising  and  our  faces  turn 
white.  We  ask  as  to  the  danger,  and  are  told  that  it  is 
comparatively  small.  We  know  it  is  dynamite,  however, 
and  feel  much  relieved  when  it  is  taken  away. 

And  so  we  go  on  to  the  bottom.  As  we  descend,  we 
hear  the  rushing  of  water.  Many  of  our  silver  mines  are 
wet  mines.  The  water  has  to  be  kept  out  of  them,  and 
this  necessitates  vast  pumping  arrangements.  This  is  a 
wet  mine,  and  among  its  works  is  a  famous  tunnel  built  at  a 
cost  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  carry  the  water 
out  of  the  mine.  This  tunnel  is  a  subterranean  passage 
way  three  miles  in  length,  so  high  that  we  walk  through 
without  stooping.  It  has  a  wood  floor  upon  which  is  a  rail 
road  carrying  ore  cars,  drawn  by  mules,  to  the  various 
parts  of  the  mine. 

As  we  walk  over  the  road,  we  hear  the  rushing  of  water, 
and  look  through  the  cracks  in  the  flooring.  There  is  a 
torrent  flowing  beneath  us.  It  comes  from  the  mine  at  the 
rate  of  ten  thousand  gallons  a  minute,  and  as  we  listen,  we 
hear  it  falling,  falling,  as  it  drops  from  the  levels  above. 

Not  one  ounce  of  silver  was  found  in  all  the  rock  which 
was  dug  out  to  make  this  tunnel,  and  the  half-million  dollars 


A   DAY  IX   A   SILVER    MINE 


277 


Timbers  in  a  Mine. 


it  cost  was  spent  solely  to  get  the  water  away  from  the 
other  parts  of  the  mine. 

It  is  the  water  that  necessitates  the  walling  of  the  tunnels 
and  the  stopes  with  logs.  The  wet  earth  is  always  press 
ing  in,  and  were  the  __.. 
timbers  removed,  the 
mine  would  not  last 
an  hour.  It  is  neces- 
•sary  to  know  how  to 
put  in  the  wood 
work,  and  among  the 
highest-priced  men 
employed  in  the  mines 
are  those  who  take 
care  of  the  timbers 
and  go  through  the 
underground  work 
ings  daily,  looking  for  weak  spots.  The  best  of  wood  is 
required,  and  that  used  here  comes  from  hundreds  of  miles 
away  in  the  forests  of  Oregon. 

And  so  we  move  along  from  tunnel  to  tunnel.  Now  we 
climb  into  one  of  the  stopes,  and  watch  the  miners. 
We  have  candles  in  our  hands,  and  crawl  along,  bending 
almost  double,  the  water  dripping  down  upon  us.  At  last 
we  enter  a  stope  where  a  half-dozen  miners  are  working. 
Some  are  taking  the  ore  out  with  picks,  digging  away  at 
a  pile  of  rock  which  has  been  blasted  out  by  dynamite. 
Their  wire  candlesticks  are  stuck  into  the  rocks  beside 
them.  Others  are  loading  ore.  They  are  pushing  it  into 
the  chutes  with  long-handled  shovels,  and  we  can  hear  it 
roll  down  and  strike  the  iron  bottom  of  the  car  underneath. 

In  other  places  men  are  drilling  in  order  to  blast.     They 
blow  down  the  rock  with  dynamite  just  as  the  men  did  in 
CARP.  N.  A. —  1 8 


278  THE   ROCKY  MOUNTAIN   REGION 

the  gold  mine  we  visited.  There  goes  a  blast  now.  The 
dynamite  has  torn  the  rock  out  of  the  earth,  and  a  great 
mass  of  silver-bearing  ore  has  been  loosened  from  the  sides 
of  the  mountain.  As  we  stop,  the  miners  show  us  the 
vein.  It  is  from  six  inches  to  forty  feet  in  width,  the  aver 
age  being  fifteen  feet,  and  in  it  we  can  see  streaks  of  silver 
ore,  some  of  which  are  three  feet  wide. 

But  let  us  follow  the  ore  to  the  mill.  It  is  put  into  the 
steel  cars,  raised  to  the  surface,  and  carried  in  wagons  to 
some  immense  frame  buildings  farther  down  the  mountain. 
First  it  is  run  through  a  crusher,  which  chews  the  rocks 
between  its  teeth  until  they  are  ground  into  pebbles  and 
fitted  for  the  drier.  The  wet  ore  is  dried  much  as  we  saw 
the  gold  rock  roasted  in  the  cyanide  mill.  It  is  next 
pounded  to  flour  with  heavy  steel  stamps,  and  then  mixed 
with  salt,  and  roasted  again  in  such  a  way  as  to  prepare  it 
for  the  quicksilver,  which,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  dissolves 
the  silver  out  of  the  ore  flour. 

After  being  roasted  the  hot  ore  is  left  for  a  time  piled  up 
on  the  floor  of  the  furnace  room.  We  see  several  such  piles 
as  we  go  in.  They  look  like  sand,  and  we  feel  tempted  to 
jump  into  them,  when  the  manager  pulls  us  back,  and 
tells  one  of  the  men  to  stir  up  a  pile  with  a  shovel.  He 
does  so,  and  we  see  that  only  the  outside  is  yellow.  Under 
that  thin  coating  the  ore  is  red-hot.  Had  we  jumped  into 
it,  our  legs  would  have  been  burned  to  a  crisp. 

The  process  by  which  the  quicksilver  takes  the  silver 
out  of  the  ore  makes  one  think  of  the  prince  in  the  fairy 
tale,  who  broke  through  the  hedge  and  kissed  into  life  the 
princess  who  had  been  sleeping  for  a  hundred  years.  It 
is  the  quicksilver  prince,  in  fact,  who  kisses  the  sleeping 
silver-ore  maiden  into  life,  and  carries  her  away  from  the 
palace  of  rock  in  which  she  has  been  locked  for  ages. 


A   DAY   IN  A   SILVER  MINE 


279 


After  the  sand  has  cooled,  it  is  taken  into  the  pan  room, 
and  is  thrown  into  great  pans  of  iron,  each  of  which  holds 
about  three  thousand  pounds.  Water  is  introduced,  and 
this  turns  the  ore  sand  to  a  thick  brown  mush. 

Now  into  each  of  the  pans,  through  a  little  pipe,  are 
poured  three  pounds  of  quicksilver,  and  stirring  machinery 
is  set  to  work,  which  moves  about  through  the  ore,  mixing 
the  quicksilver  with  it.  The  sand  was  warm,  and  the  quick 
silver  by  the  warmth  becomes  active,  and  by  the  mixing 


Interior  of  a  Silver  Mill. 


divides  into  drops  as  big  as  the  point  of  a  pin.  The  mixers 
move  about  at  the  rate  of  sixty  revolutions  a  minute,  send 
ing  these  little  quicksilver  drops  through  the  sand.  As 
they  go,  they  seek  out  the  particles  of  silver,  and  as  each 
drop  of  quicksilver  touches  an  atom  of  silver  it  sucks  it  into 
itself.  This  traveling  of  the  quicksilver  is  kept  up  for 
eight  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  time  all  of  the  silver  in 


280  THE   ROCKY  MOUNTAIN    REGION 

the  sand  has  been  absorbed  by  the  quicksilver.  The  two 
metals  have  united,  and  the  marriage  is  complete. 

The  quicksilver  is  now  drawn  off,  and  we  have  a  bucket 
ful  or  so  of  quicksilver  containing  the  silver.  The  mixture 
is  separated  by  putting  it  into  a  furnace,  which  is  so  tightly 
sealed  that  not  even  vapor  can  get  out  of  it,  except  through 
a  pipe  at  one  end.  Then  the  fire  below  is  made  hotter  and 
hotter,  until  at  last  the  quicksilver,  which  vaporizes  at  two 
hundred  and  sixty  degrees  of  heat,  rises  up  in  the  form  of 
vapor.  It  flows  off  into  the  pipe,  and  is  condensed  farther 
on  by  cool  water  passing  over  the  pipe,  and  thus  saved. 

Silver  does  not  vaporize  at  this  temperature.  After  the 
quicksilver  has  left  it,  it  is  allowed  to  cool;  and  when  the 
furnace  is  opened,  it  is  found  upon  the  bottom,  looking  for 
all  the  world  like  a  piece  of  old  plank  covered  with  ashes. 
It  is  now  impure  silver  bullion,  and  is  ready  to  be  shipped 
to  the  refining  furnaces  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  where, 
by  means  of  chemicals,  it  is  further  purified  and  fitted  for 
the  mint,  where  it  may  become  silver  dollars. 


36.  ACROSS  THE  ROCKIES  TO  SALT  LAKE 

THE  trip  from  Denver  to  San  Francisco  requires  about 
thirty-six  hours  of  fast  railroad  travel.  We  find  the 
journey  far  different  from  those  we  took  in  the  eastern  part 
of  our  country.  The  railroads  climb  right  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  They  wind  about  one  curve  after  another, 
through  great  gorges  where  the  cliffs  seem  about  to  fall 
down  upon  us,  climbing  always  upward,  until  at  one  place 
they  reach  a  pass  where  we  are  two  miles  above  the  sea. 


CROSSING   THE   MOUNTAINS 


281 


Snow  lies  on  the  Mountains  all  the  Year  Round. 


Here  everything  is  dry,  rocky,  and  thirsty-looking.  The 
air  is  so  clear  we  can  see  for  miles.  In  climbing  the 
mountains,  we  find  that  we  have  to  stop  every  few  moments 


282 


THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 


to  breathe.  Some  of  us  feel  faint  and  sick  from  the  rarity 
of  the  air,  and  we  are  told  that  many  people  are  always  at 
tacked  by  mountain  sickness  at  this  altitude.  I  have  seen 
women  grow  faint  in  going  over  Marshall  Pass,  on  the 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railroad. 

We  ride  for  miles  without  being  out  of  sight  of  the  snow 
which  lies  on  some  of  the  mountain  peaks  all  the  year 


Railroad  over  the  Mountain 


round.  In  the  winter  it  falls  in  such  quantities  that  the 
drifts  cover  the  railroad  tracks ;  hence  miles  of  snowsheds 
have  been  built  around  the  sides  of  the  mountains  over  the 
road,  in  order  to  keep  the  snow  from  stopping  the  cars. 
Going  through  these  sheds  is  much  like  passing  through  a 
long  tunnel,  except  that,  here  and  there,  is  a  crack  through 
which  we  can  peep  out  and  see  down,  perhaps  thousands 
of  feet,  into  the  valleys  below. 

The  scenery  is  magnificent,  and  as  we  look  at  the  snow- 
clad  peaks  we  remember  the  vast  deposits  of  gold,  silver, 
copper,  and  lead  which  they  contain,  and  wish  we  could  go 


CROSSING   THE   MOUNTAINS 


283 


off  into  the  mountains  and  live  for  a  time  with  the  miners, 
watching  them  get  out  the  ore.  We  should  like  to  fish 
in  the  streams  that  come  tumbling  down  the  hills  at  the 
sides  of  the  tracks ;  and  we  do  not  get  tired  of  watching 


Mountains  in  Utah. 

the  herds  of  cattle  which  we  see  now  and  then  under  the 
charge  of  cowboys. 

We  pass  great  flocks  of  sheep  watched  by  shepherds  on 
foot  or  on  horseback.  Many  of  them  have  covered  wagons 
in  which  they  live  from  one  year's  end  to  the  other,  as, 
aided  by  their  dogs,  they  drive  the  sheep  from  place  to 
place  searching  out  the  best  feeding  grounds. 

As  we  see  the  wagons  standing  out  on  the  plains  with 
nothing  but  the  bare  rocks,  dusty  grass,  and  blue  sky  about 
them,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  shepherd's  life  must  be  lone 
some  ;  and  we  are  told  that  they  sometimes  go  crazy  from 
thus  living  all  alone  in  these  dreary  surroundings. 

At  times  we  go  by  prairie-dog  villages  —  little  hillocks, 


284 


THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 


Prairie  Dogs. 


each  of  which  has  a  hole  leading  down  into  the  nest  where 
these  little  animals  live  with  their  young.  Prairie  dogs  are 
of  about  the  size  of  small  rabbits.  Some  of  them  sit  on 

.  their  hind  legs,  on  the 
tops  of  their  little  houses, 
and  watch  the  cars  as  they 
go  by.  Others  are  fright 
ened,  and  scamper  into 
their  holes. 

We  look  in  vain  for  the 
grizzly  bear,  deer,  and 
mountain  sheep.  Such 
animals  are  seldom  seen 
near  the  railroads,  al 
though  a  few  hours'  walk 
from  almost  any  of  the 
stations  would  bring  us  to  places  where  they  could  be  found. 
The  country  grows  more  dusty  and  dreary  as  we  travel 
on  westward,  when  all  at  once  we  come  out  into  the  green 
valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  find  ourselves  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  the  capital  of  Utah. 

There  are  few  more  beautiful  towns  than  Salt  Lake  City. 
It  lies  in  a  valley,  surrounded  by  mountains  which,  at  the 
back  of  the  town,  rise  more  than  a  mile  upward,  their  heads 
crowned  with  everlasting  snow.  A  short  distance  away  to 
the  northwest  is  the  Great  Salt  Lake ;  and  northward  and 
southward,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  is  a  valley  covered  with 
meadows,  orchards,  vineyards,  and  gardens. 

Salt  Lake  City  has  wide  streets,  shaded  by  great  forest 
trees.  Its  houses  have  broad  lawns  about  them  ;  and  along 
the  sides  of  each  street  a  tiny  stream  of  mountain  water 
flows.  There  are  but  few  poor  buildings,  and  it  is  a  pros 
perous  place. 


SALT  LAKE   CITY 


285 


Salt  Lake  City  was  built  by  the  Mormons,  who,  with 
Brigham  Young  as  leader,  long  before  the  days  of  rail 
roads,  traveled  over  the  plains  and  mountains,  and  picked 
out  this  spot  for  their  city. 

The  Mormons  were  a  body  of  men  who  thought  they 
had  received  a  new  revelation  from  God  which  they  were 


Salt  Lake  City. 

to  obey.  Among  other  things,  they  believed  that  it  was 
right  for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  wife ;  but  as  that  is 
against  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  they  do  not  now 
practice  this  belief. 

The  Mormons  laid  out  their  city  in  squares  of  ten  acres 
each,  and  began  to  erect  the  great  structures  of  the  Mor 
mon  Church,  which  are  now  among  the  remarkable  buildings 


286 


THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    REGION 


of  the  world.  The  Mormon  Temple  is  one  of  the  grandest 
churches  in  this  country.  It  is  built  of  granite  from  quar 
ries  in  the  mountains  near  by.  It  covers  more  than  an  acre, 
and  is  one  hundred  feet  high,  with  great  towers,  which  rise 
up  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  higher  than  the 
main  structure.  The  temple  was  almost  forty  years  in 


Mormon  Temple  and  Tabernacle. 

building,  and  it  has  cost  half  as  much  as  the  Capitol  at 
Washington.  In  it  the  Mormons  meet  occasionally  for 
certain  special  observances  of  their  religion,  and  outsiders 
cannot  enter. 

Not  far  from  the  temple  is  the  huge  tabernacle  in  which 
the  Mormons  worship  on  Sunday.  It  looks  like  an  enor 
mous  bath  tub,  or  the  half  of  an  eggshell  set  upon  pillars. 


GREAT   SALT   LAKE  287 

It  is  made  entirely  of  iron,  glass,  and  stone,  with  a  roof  of 
stamped  copper.  The  tabernacle  has  seats  for  nine  thou 
sand  people.  Upon  ordinary  Sundays  more  than  six  thou 
sand  men,  women,  and  children  go  to  church  there,  and 
often  the  seats  are  all  filled.  These  people,  who  were  very 
few  at  first,  grew  in  numbers  from  year  to  year,  and  it  is 
now  estimated  that  there  are  several  hundred  thousand  of 
them  in  Utah. 

At  the  time  the  Mormons  came  to  the  Salt  Lake  Valley 
it  was  almost  all  desert.  They  turned  the  streams  of  water 
out  over  the  land,  irrigating  it,  and  thus  transformed  it  into 
prosperous  farms.  As  we  travel  onward,  we  shall  learn 
that  much  of  the  desert  will  make  the  best  farming  land  if 
it  can  only  have  water. 

Our  next  trip  is  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  We  can  reach 
it  in  less  than  an  hour  by  the  cars.  It  lies  in  a  vast  basin 
between  the  Wasatch  and  Sierra  Nevada  ranges.  This 
basin  has  no  outlet  to  either  ocean,  and  most  of  its  drainage 
flows  into  this  wonderful  body  of  water. 

The  Great  Salt  Lake  is  one  hundred  miles  long,  and  its 
average  width  is  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles.  It  is  so 
bounded  by  mountains  that  streams  of  fresh  water  are  al 
ways  flowing  into  it.  Evaporation  is  so  rapid,  however, 
that  these  streams  do  not  raise  the  level  of  the  lake,  and 
its  waters  are  so  salt  that  thousands  of  tons  of  salt  are 
made  by  evaporation  along  the  shores  of  the  lake  ;  and 
there  is  so  much  soda  in  it  that  at  one  place  on  the  beach 
a  windy  night  never  fails  to  pile  up  many  tons  of  soda 
washed  there  by  the  waves. 

The  lake  is  six  times  as  salt  as  the  waters  of  the  ocean  ; 
and  although  it  is  more  than  a  thousand  miles  away  from 
either  the  Atlantic  or  the  Pacific,  it  gives  the  most  delight 
ful  salt  water  bathing. 


288 


THE    ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   REGION 


We  all  take  a  swim,  and  find  that  we  cannot  possibly 
sink.  Our  bodies  from  the  shoulders  upward  stick  out 
above  the  surface  of  the  lake,  and  we  bob  up  and  down 


Bathing  in  Great  Salt  Lake. 

upon  it  like  the  cork  on  a  fishing1  line.  The  salt  makes  the 
water  so  heavy  that,  try  as  we  may,  we  cannot  force  our 
selves  to  the  bottom.  As  we  lie  thus,  floating  with  our 
arms  folded,  we  need  not  be  afraid  of  a  shark  nipping  our 
legs ;  and,  as  we  tread  about,  there  is  no  danger  of  fishes 
or  crabs  biting  our  toes.  We  might  fish  here  for  years  and 
not  get  a  bite,  for  the  Great  Salt  Lake  is  so  salt  that  no 
fish  can  live  in  it. 

Nevertheless,  some  of  the  streams  that  flow  into  the  lake 
are  full  of  delicious  brook  trout,  and  were  we  to  follow  the 
Jordan  from  its  mouth  in  the  lake  up  to  its  source  at  Utah 
Lake,  we  should  find  there  one  of  the  prettiest  and  sweetest 
little  bodies  of  fresh  water  of  all  North  America. 


IRRIGATION  289 


37.    RECLAIMING    OUR   WASTE   LANDS 

THE  vast  plateau  upon  which  we  are  now  traveling,  and 
much  of  the  land  to  the  east  and  west  of  it,  were 
long  known  as  the  Great  American  Desert.  This  was 
supposed  to  begin  in  Mexico  and  run  northward  across  the 
United  States,  spreading  out  like  a  fan  and  ending  in 
Canada.  Until  railroads  were  built  across  our  continent, 
this  dry  region  had  fewer  people  than  the  Sahara  in 
Africa ;  and  for  a  long  time  no  one  supposed  it  would  be 
of  any  value  to  us.  Then  mines  were  discovered,  and  now 
it  yields  every  year  about  one  hundred  million  dollars' 
worth  of  metals,  chiefly  copper,  silver,  and  gold.  As  the 
prospectors  went  over  the  country,  they  found  vast  tracts 
fitted  for  grazing  cattle  and  sheep,  and  now  some  of  our 
largest  herds  and  flocks  are  reared  there.  They  discovered 
also  little  well-watered  valleys  and  basins  in  the  mountains 
where  the  soil  was  moist  enough  to  grow  crops,  and  many 
small  fanning  settlements  sprang  up  to  supply  the  miners 
with  food. 

After  the  Mormons  had  used  the  streams  near  the  Great 
Salt  Lake  to  irrigate  their  farms,  it  was  discovered  that 
the  most  bountiful  and  surest  crops  could  be  grown  in  that 
way.  The  people  then  began  to  seek  out  tracts  of  land 
along  the  rivers  and  streams  where  they  could  construct 
dams  and  canals  so  as  to  carry  the  water  over  them.  Such 
irrigation  was  largely  done  along  the  eastern  foothills  of 
the  Rockies,  and  especially  in  California,  where  the  irri 
gated  lands  were  found  to  produce  the  most  delicious 
oranges,  lemons,  grapes,  and  other  tropical  fruits. 

As  time  went  on,  and  the  well-watered  lands  of  the 
country  grew  more  and  more  scarce,  the  scientists  of  our 


290  WASTE   LANDS 

government  at  Washington  made  plans  to  reclaim  such  of 
our  dry  public  lands  as  could  be  irrigated.  They  saw  that 
if  dams  could  be  built  at  certain  places  in  the  mountains, 
the  heavy  rains  and  snows  of  the  winter  might  be  stored 
up  in  lakes  and  reservoirs  there  and  let  out  as  needed. 
They  also  planned  how,  by  means  of  costly  dams  and 
canals,  the  waters  of  the  rivers  might  be  carried  over  more 
and  more  land. 

But  to  do  this  would  require  a  vast  deal  of  money,  and 
the  question  was  where  to  get  it.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  were  already  heavily  taxed,  and  our  Con 
gress  knew  they  would  not  like  to  take  on  this  additional 
burden.  Then  the  idea  was  brought  forth  that  these  des 
ert  places  might  be  made  to  pay  for  their  own  irrigation 
and  for  the  irrigation  of  other  lands.  It  was  found  that 
the  arid  regions  belonging  to  the  government  lay  in  sixteen 
or  more  different  states  or  territories.  All  of  these  had 
some  good  public  lands  left  in  addition  to  their  desert  or 
dry  lands,  which  without  water  no  one  could  use.  So  in 
1902,  Congress  passed  a  law  that  the  money  which  those 
states  received  from  the  sale  of  the  government  lands 
should  be  saved  and  set  aside  as  a  fund  to  put  water  upon 
the  dry  lands.  Within  a  short  time  the  money  so  collected 
amounted  to  thirty  or  forty  million  dollars,  and  this  vast 
sum  is  being  employed  in  that  way. 

Moreover,  the  law  provides  that  when  a  tract  of  desert 
has  been  so  watered,  it  shall  be  sold  out  in  small  plots  to 
settlers  on  long  time,  for  just  about  what  it  has  cost  to 
make  the  improvements.  In  this  way  the  sales  of  the 
desert  land  thus  irrigated  bring  the  money  all  back  to  the 
irrigation  fund  ;  so  that  the  desert  really  pays  for  itself, 
and  the  fund  can  be  used  over  and  over  again  to  reclaim 
more  and  more  land. 


IRRIGATION 


291 


By  this  means  Immense  dams  and  reservoirs  have  been 
constructed  throughout  these  semi-arid  regions,  the  waters 
from  the  great  rivers  have  been  turned  out  through  the 
desert,  and  so  many  canals  have  been  dug  that  if  they 
were  placed  end  to  end,  they  would  make  a  stream  long 
enough  to  reach  about  one  third  of  the  distance  around 
the  world.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  new  farms 


An  Irrigation  Canal. 

have  been  made,  and  an  enormous  value  has  been  added  to 
the  wealth  of  our  country. 

Not  far  from  Phoenix,  Arizona,  a  dam  has  been  built 
across  a  mighty  gorge  through  which  the  Salt  River  runs, 
so  that  its  waters  are  held  back,  creating  a  lake  holding 
enough  to  cover  a  million  acres  with  water  to  the  depth  of 
one  foot.  A  few  years  ago  all  the  country  below  that  lake 


292  WASTE   LANDS 

was  dry  sand.  Now  it  is  covered  with  irrigated  farms 
yielding  the  finest  of  raisins,  melons,  apricots,  and  peaches, 
and  oranges  which  are  so  large  and  sweet  that  they  have 
been  called  globes  of  bottled  sunshine.  In  the  same  re 
gion  are  farms  upon  which  hundreds  of  baby  ostriches  are 
hatched  every  year.  The  ostriches  delight  in  the  hot  sun  ; 
and  they  grow  fat  upon  the  grass,  alfalfa,  and  other  vege 
tation  of  the  irrigated  lands. 

Some  great  irrigation  works  have  been  established  along 
the  Colorado  River.  Others  are  so  holding  back  the 
waters  of  the  Carson  and  Truckce  rivers  in  Nevada,  that 
they  have  reclaimed  several  hundred  thousand  acres  ;  and 
there  are  also  dams  and  canals  made  for  the  same  purpose 
in  South  Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
California,  Washington,  and  other  western  states. 

The  people  of  the  irrigated  regions  tell  us  they  would 
much  rather  depend  upon  the  streams  than  upon  rain. 
They  know  they  will  always  have  enough  water  for  their 
crops,  and  that  they  can  feed  them  with  just  the  right 
amount  at  just  the  right  time.  Moreover,  they  say  that 
the  soil,  so  watered,  produces  far  more.  In  many  parts  of 
the  West  an  irrigated  farm  of  ten  acres  yields  more  money 
than  a  corn  patch  of  one  hundred  acres  in  the  rich  Missis 
sippi  Valley ;  and  in  the  orange  and  grape  lands  of  south 
ern  California,  or  the  irrigated  apple  valleys  of  Oregon 
and  Washington,  a  tract  of  six  acres  often  supports  a  whole 
family. 

These  irrigated  farms  are  sometimes  so  small  that  the 
whole  country  is  more  like  a  village  than  like  the  widely  sep 
arated  farmers'  homes  of  the  cultivated  parts  of  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  or  Texas,  or  even  of  our  middle  and  eastern  states. 
The  farmhouses  are  near  together,  each  having  ten,  five,  or 
even  less  acres  about  it ;  so  that  the  people  have  to  walk 


IRRIGATION  293 

but  a  few  steps  to  talk  to  their  neighbors.  In  some  such 
settlements  the  water  is  so  carried  in  pipes  along  the  roads 
that  every  house  and  barn  has  running  water  in  it.  In 
many  of  them  the  water,  falling  from  the  dams,  operates 
electric  plants  which  light  the  homes  of  the  farmers  ;  and 
they  have  also  telephones,  so  that  one  can  have  the  ears  of 
his  neighbors  close  to  his  mouth.  Moreover,  the  farms 
are  so  near  one  another  that  the  schoolhouses  are  not  far 
away  from  any  of  them,  and  the  children  can  come  together 
for  games  much  more  easily  than  in  the  regions  of  large 
farms  where  rain  alone  furnishes  the  water.  We  shall  see 
many  such  settlements  in  the  western  parts  of  our  country. 

Is  not  water  a  wonderful  thing  as  regards  the  comfort 
and  support  of  man  ?  Upon  it,  quite  as  much  as  upon  the 
character  of  the  soil,  depends  the  prosperity  of  a  country 
or  people.  It  is  not  only  necessary  that  the  earth  should 
have  water,  but  that  it  should  have  just  enough  and  at  just 
the  right  times  in  order  that  it  may  yield  the  food  and 
other  things  needed  by  man.  In  the  eastern  parts  of  the 
United  States  enough  is  provided  by  the  rains  which  fall 
at  regular  times  every  year ;  and  in  the  West  we  have  dis 
covered  that  much  of  the  water  can  be  saved  and  given  to 
the  land  as  it  is  required. 

Moreover,  if  we  have  kept  our  eyes  open  during  these 
travels,  we  have  seen  that  almost  as  much  evil  may  result 
from  a  region  having  too  much  water  as  from  its  having 
no  water  at  all.  We  found  this  so  in  the  Great  Dismal 
Swamp  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  and  in  the  Ever 
glades  of  Florida,  as  well  as  upon  the  lands  which  are 
continually  flooded  in  parts  of  the  lower  Mississippi 
Valley.  Nearly  every  state  of  the  eastern  half  of  our 
country  has  more  or  less  swamps  where  the  water  pre 
vents  the  use  of  the  land. 
CARP.  N.  A.  — 19 


294 


CALIFORNIA 


Now  our  government,  in  the  same  way  as  it  is  reclaim 
ing  the  deserts,  is  about  reclaiming  the  swamps.  The 
government  engineers  are  making  plans  for  dikes  and 
dams  and  great  drainage  canals,  by  means  of  which  the 
waters  of  these  flooded  regions  can  be  taken  out  of  them 
and  the  lands  left  dry  enough  for  farming.  This  is  an 
other  great  undertaking,  which,  as  time  goes  on,  will  add 
enormously  to  our  national  wealth. 


38.     THE    FAIRYLAND    OF    CALIFORNIA 

LEAVING    Salt    Lake,  we  continue  our   ride,  winding 
about   through    the    mountains    and  over    the    high, 
thirsty    plains.      We    cross    the    state    of    Nevada,    noted 
chiefly  for  its  silver  and  gold,  and  then,    shooting  down 

the  timbered  sides  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  find  our 
selves  at  the  city  of  Sac 
ramento,  in  one  of  a  series 
of  valleys  which  make 
up  a  great  part  of  the 
fairyland  of  California. 

^m     mmam  After  our  long'  dusty 

^J^Sfl|i|#  ride  over  the  dry,  rocky 

highlands,  the  change  is 
wonderfully  refreshing. 
There  is  no  section  of 
the  United  States  for  which  nature  has  done  so  much. 
There  are  parts  of  California  where  it  is  summer  all  the 
year  round.  The  flowers  always  bloom,  and  the  trees  are 
always  green.  The  people  of  Los  Angeles  sometimes 


A  Rose  Bush  in  California. 


FLOWERS   AXD   FRUIT 


295 


have  festivals  of  roses  to  celebrate  the  New  Year,  and  on 
Christmas  they  can,  if  they  wish,  go  out  to  the  shore  and 
take  a  bath  in  the  ocean,  come  back  and  set  the  table 
under  the  orange  trees  for  their  Christmas  dinner  and,  in 
the  afternoon,  by  a  short  railroad  ride,  go  up  among  the 
snows  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains  and  eat  supper  under 
some  of  the  finest  Christmas  trees  in  the  world. 

Our  trip  through  California  makes-  us  think  of  Christ 
mas,  for  we  see  again  and  again  many  of  the  things  we 
then -find  in  our  stockings.  We  travel  through  regions 


Almond  Trees  in  Bloom. 

where  English  walnuts  hang  from  the  trees,  and  among 
orchards  loaded  with  almonds.  The  oranges  here  seem  even 
bigger  and  sweeter  than  those  we  ate  in  Florida.  There 
are  lemon  trees  by  the  thousands,  and  we  ride  for  miles 
through  vineyards  of  the  choicest  grapes.  When  we  eat 


296 


CALIFORNIA 


our  mince  pie  or  plum  pudding  at  our  next  Christmas 
dinner,  we  may  have  some  of  the  very  raisins  which  we 
now  see  as  grapes  on  the  vines.  We  are  surprised  to 
learn  that  many  of  the  raisin  grapes  are  green  in  color. 
They  are  of  the  variety  known  as  the  white  muscat,  and 
they  turn  purple  only  when,  having  been  cured  and  dried 
in  the  sun,  they  become  raisins. 

Do  you  like  prunes  ? 

California  has  thousands  of  trees  on  which  prunes  are 
grown.  Prunes  are  a  species  of  plum ;  they  are  far  more 


Olive  Oil  Works. 


delicious  when  just  picked   than  when  dried  and  packed 
away  in  boxes  for  sale. 

We  see  olive  groves  here  and  there,  the  trees  of  which 
are  knotty  and  gnarly.  The  fruit  looks  like  green  plums, 
and  we  make  wry  faces  as  we  bite  into  it.  Olives  must  be 
pickled  before  they  are  ready  for  eating.  The  fruit  is 


OLIVES    AND    FIGS  297 

carefully  gathered.  Women  and  men,  and  often  boys  and 
girls,  do  the  picking.  Some  stretch  out  sheets  under  the 
trees,  while  others  climb  up  and  shake  the  "branches  so 
that  the  fruit  falls  down  into  the  sheets.  After  this  the 
olives  are  sorted,  and  those  which  are  large  and  sound  are 
•kept  for  pickling,  while  the  bruised  ones  are  pressed  to 
squeeze  out  the  oil  which  we  use  on  our  tables  for  salads. 

Olive  trees  are  usually  planted  in  orchards.  The  trees 
are  first  sprouted  from  cuttings  in  hothouses,  then  trans 
planted,  and  in  seven  or  eight  years  they  begin  to  bear 
fruit.  At  ten  years  a  thrifty  tree  should  produce  five 
gallons  of  olives  per  annum ;  and  when  fully  grown,  it 
sometimes  yields  ten  times  as  much. 

Have  you  ever  tasted  fresh  figs  ? 

As  they  hang  upon  the  trees  they  are  twice  as  large  as 
when  dried  and  pressed  into  boxes.  They  are  as  sweet  as 
honey,  and  are  delicious  with  cream.  The  fig  grows  well 
in  many  parts  of  California,  and  we  are  shown  single  trees 
which  have  yielded  a  thousand  pounds  in  one  year. 

During  our  travels  we  stop  now  and  then  to  help  the 
boys  gather  walnuts.  Not  black  walnuts  such  as  grow  so 
plentifully  throughout  our  eastern  states,  but  the  thin- 
shelled,  delicious  English  walnuts  which  are  sold  every 
where  in  the  grocery  stores.  The  English  walnut  trees 
are  planted  and  cared  for  like  other  fruit  trees.  They  be 
gin  to  give  fruit  at  the  end  of  six  years,  but  do  not  come 
into  full  bearing  until  long  after  that,  when  a  single  tree 
may  yield  ten  dollars'  worth  of  nuts  in  a  year.  When  the 
nuts  are  ripe,  they  are  shaken  or  knocked  down,  and  then 
gathered  up  to  be  cured  and  packed  for  shipping. 

The  first  men  who  came  to  California  were  miners,  but 
after  a  time  it  was  found  that  the  land  would  grow  not 
only  wheat  and  other  grains,  but  also  more  and  better 


2Q8 


CALIFORNIA 


fruits  of  certain  kinds  than  any  other  part  of  our  country. 
All  that  was  necessary  to  make  the  driest  of  soils  yield 
abundantly  was  water.  So  large  irrigation  works  were 
established,  and  through  them  California  quickly  became 
one  of  the  richest  grain  farms  and  fruit  gardens  of  the 
whole  world.  The  state  now  has  thousands  of  small  farms,' 
many  being  less  than  ten  acres  in  size,  upon  each  of  which 
a  family  makes  its  own  living.  In  some  sections  the  lands 
yield  so  abundantly  that  an  acre  will  support  one  or  two 
persons,  and  the  family  that  owns  an  orange  grove  or  wal 
nut  orchard  of  thirty  or  forty  acres  is  quite  well-to-do. 

You    must    not    imagine,  however,  that   the    California 
farms  are  all  small.     The  state  has  some  very  large  ones. 


A  Vineyard  in  California. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  Vina  Ranch,  which  was  given  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leland  Stanford  to  the  Leland  Stanford 
Junior  University.  That  farm  contains  fifty-nine  thousand 


BIG   FARMS  299 

acres,  and  you  may  have  an  idea  of  its  extent  when  I  tell 
you  that  its  irrigating  canals  added  together  are  one  hun 
dred  miles  longer  than  the  distance  between  New  York 
and  Washington. 

The  Vina  Ranch  lies  north  of  San  Francisco.  When  I 
visited  it  some  years  ago,  I  saw  thirty  thousand  sheep 
nibbling  in  its  pastures,  and  about  them  were  playing  seven 
thousand  lambs  that  had  been  born  that  year.  In  another 
place  was  a  drove  of  two  thousand  hogs,  and  there  were 
many  hundreds  of  valuable  horses.  It  takes  a  large  num 
ber  of  people  to  manage  a  farm  of  that  kind.  There  were 
fifteen  hundred  men  and  boys  working  upon  it,  and  I  rode 
from  camp  to  camp,  in  different  parts  of  the  farm,  to  see 
how  they  lived.  They  dwelt  in  sheds,  or  barracks,  many 
sleeping  in  one  large  room.  The  men  of  each  camp  ate 
together,  and  their  meals  were  cooked  by  Chinese.  After 
the  day's  work  was  over,  they  played  baseball  and  other 
games. 

Such  a  farm  is  managed  like  a  big  business  establish 
ment,  with  account  books  of  various  kinds.  The  cost  of 
everything  is  put  down,  and  nothing  is  allowed  to  go  to 
waste.  Every  man  knows  just  what  he  has  to  do,  and  the 
work  is  divided  up  into  departments. 

An  interesting  part  of  that  farm  was  the  vineyard,  which 
was  then  the  largest  in  the  world.  It  produced  enough 
grapes  each  year  to  give  a  half  pound  to  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States.  If  you  could 
imagine  a  whole  county  covered  with  grapevines,  you 
might  get  some  idea  of  it. 

The  vineyard  was  divided. into  blocks,  just  like  a  city, 
being  cut  up  by  streets  and  cross  streets.  The  grapes 
were  ripe  about  the  first  of  August,  when  it  required  one 
thousand  men  and  boys  to  pick  them.  Two  pickers  worked 


300 


CALIFORNIA 


together,  each  carrying  a  box,  and  sorting  the  grapes  as 
they  went  from  vine  to  vine,  putting  the  poor  grapes  into 
one  box  and  the  good  ones  into  another. 

Is  not  this  a  wonderful  state? 

Almost  anything  will  grow  better  in  California  than  in 
the  eastern  part  of  our  country.  In  some  sections  of  it 


Gathering  Crapes. 

beets  are  raised,  one  of  which  will  weigh  as  much  as 
a  good-sized  boy ;  and  pumpkins  have  been  grown  which 
have  weighed  up  to  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds, 
or  as  much  as  a  full-grown  pig.  In  the  southern  part  of 
California  are  elderberry  bushes  which  have  trunks  from 
one  to  two  feet  in  thickness  ;  and  at  Pasadena  is  a  rose 


BIG    TREES 


3OI 


bush  which  is  said  to  bear  one  hundred  thousand  blossoms 
at  a  time. 

The  biggest  trees  of  the  world  are  to  be  found  on  the 
western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  Within  one  hundred 
and  thirty  miles  of  San  Francisco,  in  Calaveras  County, 
are  groves,  some  of  the  trees  of  which  are  so  big  that  you 
could  build  a  schoolroom  inside  one  and  have  space  to 
spare.  They  are  more  than 
three  fifths  as  high  as  the  Wash 
ington  Monument,  and  their 
tops  seem  to  pierce  the  clouds, 
for  they  extend  three  or  four 
hundred  feet  above  the  ground. 
The  "Starr  King," for  instance, 
is  three  hundred  and  sixty-six 
feet  high,  and  the  "  Mother  of 
the  Forest "  measures  three 
hundred  and  fifteen  feet  to  its 
topmost  branch,  while  a  half 
dozen  other  trees  are  over  three 
hundred  feet  high. 

Many  of  our  own  homes  are 
not  more  than  thirty  feet  wide. 

—•i  f     .-,  A  Big  Tree. 

There   is    one    of   these   trees 

which  is  forty-one  feet  in  thickness,  and  if  it  could  be  hol 
lowed  out,  you  could  build  a  large  house  inside  its  bark. 
Through  the  trunk  of  another  a  hole  has  been  cut.  This 
hole  is  so  wide  that  we  could  easily  drive  through  it  in  a 
carriage,  and  the  bark  is  almost  a  yard  thick. 

These  big  trees  are  evergreens,  related  to  the  cedars. 
They  have  foliage  much  like  the  cedars  of  other  parts  of 
the  country,  and  the  cones  which  grow  upon  them  are 
not  much  larger  than  a  good-sized  egg.  They  seldom 


302 


CALIFORNIA 


grow  by  themselves,  but  among  other  trees,  towering  like 
giants  over  the  smaller  pines  below.  They  increase  in  size 
as  we  come  nearer,  and  at  last,  when  we  stand  under  them 
and  look  upward,  their  tops  seem  almost  to  touch  the  sky. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  that  .they  were  once  little  sprouts  push 
ing  their  way  up  through  the  ground. 

That  must  have  been  a  long  time  ago,  must  it  not  ? 

Yes,  indeed.     The  big  trees  are  believed  to  be  the  oldest 


The  Yosemite  Valley. 

of  growing  things  upon  earth.  Some  of  them  are  twelve 
hundred  years  old.  They  were  eight  hundred  years  old 
when  Columbus  discovered  America;  and  were  enormous 
trees  many  years  before  that  time. 

These  trees  are  valuable  for  lumber.     The  wood  is  light, 
soft,  and  coarse-grained  ;  but  it  takes  a  high  polish,  and 


THE    YOSEMITE   VALLEY 


303 


there  is  so  much  in  a  single  tree  that  some  have  sold  for 
thousands  of  dollars. 

In  addition  to  the  Calaveras  grove  there  are  other  places 
which  have  similar  trees  of  great  size,  all  of  which  Congress 
has  now  taken  into  our  national  forest  reservations,  that 
they  may  be  kept  for  all  time  as  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  country. 

Among  other  fine  trees  of  this  state  is  the  California 
redwood,  which  sometimes  reaches  eighteen  feet  in  diame 
ter,  and  the  sugar  pine,  almost  as  thick  and  frequently  more 
than  two  hundred  feet 
tall.  The  state  is  fa 
mous  for  its  fine  timber, 
having  more  forests  than 
would  cover  all  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland  put  together. 
The  National  Forest 
Reserves  of  California 
contain  more  than  eight 
million  acres. 

Another  of  the  won 
ders  of  California  is  the 
Yosemite  National  Park, 
which  lies  in  almost  the 
center  of  the  state.  This  park  contains  the  Yosemite  Val 
ley,  an  irregular  trough  sunken  almost  a  mile  below  the 
regions  about  it.  The  scenery  of  the  valley  is  grand,  and 
among  its  most  marvelous  features  are  the  Yosemite  Falls. 

At  Niagara  Falls  we  saw  the  Niagara  River  making  its 
great  drop  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  In  the  falls  of 


Mirror  Lake,  Yosemite  Valley. 


304  CALIFORNIA 

the  Yosemite  a  branch  of  the  Merced  River  leaps  over 
the  rocks  down  into  the  valley.  Its  first  jump  is  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  straight  down  from  the  top  of  a  cliff. 
It  then  falls  a  distance  of  six  hundred  feet  in  a  series  of 
beautiful  cascades,  and  finally  comes  to  the  bottom  of  the 
valley. 

One  of  the  falls  is  known  as  the  Bridal  Veil.  The  water 
of  this  drops  a  distance  of  over  six  hundred  feet,  and  as  it 
falls  it  is  swayed  by  the  wind  and  turned  to  a  spray,  mak 
ing  it  look  like  a  fleecy  white  veil,  which,  when  the  sun 
strikes  it,  becomes  a  sheet  of  beautiful  rainbows. 


39.     SAN    FRANCISCO    AND    LOS   ANGELES 

THE  largest  cities  of   our  Pacific  slope  are  to  be  found 
on  or  near  the  seacoast  at  the  western  ends  of   the 
railroads  crossing  the  continent.     Most  of  them  have  har 
bors  on  the  ocean,  so  that  goods  can  be  shipped  to  and  from 
them  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land. 

At  the  south  is  Los  Angeles,  the  terminus  of  several  of 
our  transcontinental  trunk  railways,  with  a  great  artificial 
harbor  belonging  to  the  city.  Then  come  San  Francisco 
with  its  wonderful  bay,  reached  through  the  Golden  Gate, 
and  north  of  that,  Portland,  the  chief  city  of  Oregon,  near 
the  wide  and  deep  Columbia  River,  and  lastly,  Tacoma  and 
Seattle,  at  the  northwestern  end  of  our  country  on  Puget 
Sound.  All  of  these  cities  have  several  railway  systems 
connecting  them  with  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States, 
and  harbors  so  deep  that  the  largest  ocean  steamers  which 
sail  the  Pacific  can  come  to  their  wharves. 


LOS   ANGELES  305 

We  begin  our  travels  in  Los  Angeles.  The  place  is  so 
beautiful  that  it  is  well  named  "  The  City  of  the  Angels." 
It  makes  one  think  of  .a  town  built  in  a  botanical  garden. 
It  has  wide  streets  shaded  with  trees,  and  large  parks,  in 
some  of  which  are  beautiful  lakes.  The  houses  are  sur 
rounded  by  lawns  in  which  grow  palms  and  India  rubber 
trees,  as  well  as  bananas  and  oranges.  There  are  pepper 
trees  with  bright  red  berries,  hedges  of  geraniums  and  calla 
lilies  which  grow  out  of  doors.  There  are  also  great  cen 
tury  plants  and  pomegranates ;  there  are  immense  rose 
bushes,  and  in  the  country  wild  poppies  as  yellow  as 
gold.  The  city  is  surrounded  by  irrigated  orchards,  and 
we  may  ride  miles  in  almost  every  direction  without  getting 
out  of  sight  of  groves  of  English  walnuts,  oranges,  lemons, 
and  olives.  This  is  one  of  the  best  fruit  regions  of  Cali 
fornia.  Long  trains  of  oranges  and  other  fresh  fruit  are 
always  moving  from  it  on  their  way  to  the  East.  There 
are  big  nut-packing  establishments,  canning  factories,  and 
other  places  where  dried  fruits  and  raising  are  put  up  for 
export. 

Los  Angeles  has  many  fine  buildings  and  comfortable 
homes.  Its  climate  is  so  delightful  that  people  from 
other  parts  of  the  United  States  come  here  to  live,  and 
it  has  large  libraries,  fine  schools,  and  excellent  stores. 

Although  in  a  dry  country,  it  has  plenty  of  water.  At  an 
enormous  cost  its  people  have  built  an  aqueduct  to  Owens 
Lake,  which,  fed  by  the  glaciers  and  snows,  lies  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  away,  high  up  in  the  mountains.  By 
this  means  enough  water  is  furnished  to  irrigate  thousands 
of  orchards,  and  at  the  same  time  give  Los  Angeles  more 
than  it  can  possibly  use  even  though  it  grow  to  be  many 
times  the  size  it  is  now. 

Another  great  advantage  the  city  has  is  cheap  fuel.    This 


3°6 


CALIFORNIA 


comes  from  the  petroleum  fields  which  lie  about  and  under 
it,  producing  vast  quantities  for  export  every  year.  This 
petroleum  is  not  so  good  for  lighting  as  that  we  saw  in 
Pennsylvania;  but  it  makes  excellent  fuel,  and  is  burned  in 
the  engines  on  the  railways  and  in  the  homes  and  the  fac 
tories.  It  is  also  used  for  sprinkling  the  roads  in  the  city 
and  country  about ;  so  that,  ride  in  our  automobiles  as  fast 
as  we  may,  we  do  not  raise  dust. 

From   Los  Angeles  we  go   by  train  northward  to  San 
Francisco.     That  city  has  been  called  the  "  Child  of  the 


"  We  go  northward  to  San  Francisco." 

Mines."  It  began  to  grow  as  soon  as  gold  was  discovered  in 
California.  Before  that  it  consisted  of  only  a  few  shanties 
on  the  edge  of  San  Francisco  Bay,  and  its  population  was  not 
more  than  five  hundred.  When  the  miners  rushed  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  about  the  only  gateway  to  the  country 
by  sea  was  this  harbor,  and  within  two  years  the  population 
of  San  Francisco  rose  to  twenty-five  thousand.  Since  then 
it  has  steadily  grown,  until  now  it  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  prosperous  of  our  cities.  It  is  an  important  shipping 
port,  and  in  its  magnificent  harbor  we  find  vessels  from 


SAN   FRANCISCO  307 

Asia,  Europe,  South  America,  and  Australia,  as  well  as  some 
from  the  eastern  parts  of  our  country.  There  are  great 
steamers  at  the  wharves  ready  to  sail  across  the  Pacific  to 
Japan,  China,  and  the  Philippine  Islands ;  whaling  vessels 
about  to  start  out  for  the  Arctic  Seas ;  ships  bound  for 
Alaska ;  and  other  craft  for  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  all 
parts  of  the  Pacific. 

In  the  San  Francisco  of  to-day  we  look  in  vain  for  the 
shanties  of  the  past.  The  sand  hills  upon  which  they 
stood  have  been  long  ago  cut  away,  and  fine  buildings  have 
taken  their  places.  The  residence  sections  are  magnificent, 
for  some  of  the  richest  men  of  the  United  States  live  here. 
We  ride  on  cable  cars  up  Nob  Hill,  by  the  houses  of  million 
aires  ;  and  as  we  go  the  conductor  points  out  the  homes  of 
men  who  have  made  their  fortunes  out  of  the  mines  or  from 
the  wheat  fields,  orchards,  and  various  industries  of  the 
Pacific  Slope. 

During  our  stay  in  the  city,  we  see  here  and  there  signs 
of  the  great  earthquake  which  occurred  some  years  ago,  al 
though  most  of  the  injury  therefrom  has  long  since  disap 
peared,  new  and  better  buildings  having  taken  the  places  of 
those  which  were  then  burned  to  the  ground. 

That  earthquake  was  a  terrible  calamity.  It  occurred 
in  the  early  morning  of  April  18,  1906.  The  people  were 
still  in  their  beds  when  the  land  began  to  shake.  Some  of 
the  streets  cracked  wide  open,  the  chimneys  tumbled  down, 
and  many  large  buildings,  including  the  City  Hall,  fell  into 
ruins.  As  the  earth  cracked  apart  it  broke  the  mains  of 
the  waterworks,  and  in  the  fires  which  followed  there  was 
no  water  at  hand  to  extinguish  them.  The  result  was  that 
the  flames  raged  throughout  the  city  for  several  days,  de 
stroying  the  chief  business  buildings  and  many  of  the  best 
residence  sections.  The  loss  of  property  amounted  to  several 


308  CALIFORNIA 

hundred  million  dollars,  and  more  than  four  hundred  people 
were  killed. 

As  we  go  on  we  wonder  if  there  may  not  be  a  second 
earthquake,  and  James  Whitcomb  Riley's  little  poem  comes 
to  our  minds  :  — 

"Where's  a  boy  a-goin', 
And  what's  he  goin1  to  do, 
And  how's  he  goin'  to  do  it, 
When  the  earth  bursts  through  ? " 

However,  the  people  tell  us  we  are  perfectly  safe,  and 
when  we  look  at  the  enormous  structures  which  have  gone 
up  since  the  earthquake,  we  feel  they  must  believe  what 
they  say.  We  spend  some  time  in  going  about  through  the 
city.  After  visiting  the  Mint,  which  is  coining  great  quan 
tities  of  gold,  we  take  a  look  at  the  statue  of  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson  in  one  of  the  squares,  and  then  go  out  to  the 
Golden  Gate  Park.  From  there  we  drive  on  to  the  Cliff  House 
to  watch  the  huge  sea  lions  sport  about  in  the  water  and 
bask  in  the  sun  on  the  Seal  Rocks.  Some  of  them  are 
twelve  feet  in  length,  and  one  weighs  half  a  ton.  We  can 
hear  them  barking  above  the  roar  of  the  breakers. 

Returning  to  the  city,  we  see  many  strange  faces  while 
strolling  the  streets.  The  people  come  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  The  most  of  them  are  Americans,  but  there 
are  also  many  Germans  and  Irish,  Italians,  Spaniards,  and 
Jews.  There  are  hundreds  of  Japanese,  some  of  whom 
own  lands  near  by  and  have  market  gardens.  There  are 
more  Chinese  in  San  Francisco  than  in  any  other  United 
States  city.  The  Chinese  have  a  settlement  of  their  own. 
It  is  called  Chinatown.  It  is  at  the  foot  of  Nob  Hill,  and 
covers  a  dozen  or  more  city  blocks,  in  which  are  Chinese 
temples  and  stores  and  Chinese  houses.  The  signs  of  the 
stores  are  in  characters  like  those  on  the  tea  boxes. 


SAN    FRANCISCO  309 

What  odd  people  these  Chinese  are,  and  how  queerly 
some  of  them  dress !  They  have  yellow  faces  and  their 
black  eyes  seem  to  be  set  aslant  in  their  heads.  See  that 
boy  who  stands  outside  the  store  over  there !  His  cap  is 
a  little  round  bowl  of  black  satin  with  a  bright  red  button 
on  top.  He  wears  a  full  jacket  and  trousers  of  dark  col 
ored  silk,  and  boots  of  black  cloth.  The  sleeves  of  his 
jacket  are  so  much  longer  than  his  arms  that  he  can  use 
them  as  a  muff  in  winter.  We  meet  many  such  boys. 
They  stare  at  us  as  we  ride  by.  Now  we  are  passing  a 
Chinese  temple.  We  peep  in.  It  is  gorgeous  with  carv 
ings  and  there  are  sticks  of  incense  burning  on  the  altars. 

Around  the  corner  comes  a  Chinese  woman.  Her  eyes 
are  aslant  and  her  yellow  complexion  is  painted  and  pow 
dered.  Her  head  is  bare ;  for  Chinese  women  do  not 
wear  bonnets  and  hats  as  our  women  do.  They  comb  their 
hair  into  rolls  and  braids,  putting  it  up  in  strange  ways. 

We  see  more  men  than  women  among  the  Chinese.  Most 
of  the  men  leave  their  wives  and  daughters  at  home,  ex 
pecting  to  go  back  to  China  some  day.  The  poorer  classes 
do  not  live  so  well  as  the  poor  of  other  races  in  the  United 
States.  They  pack  themselves  away  at  night  in  large  build 
ings,  scores  of  men  often  sleeping  in  one  room.  They  eat  the 
cheapest  of  food,  and  save  in  every  way  possible  that  they 
may  soon  go  back  across  the  ocean  to  their  own  dear  country 
on  the  other  side. 

In  our  travels  through  California  and  other  Pacific  coast 
states  we  shall  find  many  Chinese.  Some  are  employed  as 
servants,  some  work  in  the  fruit  farms  and  vineyards,  others 
have  laundries,  and  some  have  stores  in  those  parts  of  the 
cities  where  the  Chinese  dwell.  Not  all  are  poor.  They 
are  thrifty,  and  many  are  fast  growing  rich. 

For  some  time  the  United  States  government  allowed  all 

CARP.  N.  A,  —  2O 


They  stare  at  us  as  we  ride  by. 


OREGON  311 

the  Chinese  who  wished  to  come  to  our  country.  But  so 
many  were  sent  across  the  Pacific  that  our  people  feared 
they  might  do  all  the  work,  while  some  good  American  citi 
zens  would  be  forced  to  go  idle.  They  found  also  that  the 
Chinese  who  came  seldom  wished  to  remain  and  aid  in 
building  up  the  country,  and  were  not  inclined  to  become 
citizens.  Therefore  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
best  not  to  have  too  many  of  them  ;  and  now  all  ships 
arriving  from  Asia  are  carefully  watched,  and  the  Chinese 
laboring  people  upon  them  are  not  permitted  to  land. 


40.    THE   PACIFIC  NORTHWEST  — PORTLAND 

WE  shall  now  go  by  rail  from  San  Francisco  to  Portland 
at  the  western  end  of  several  trunk  lines  of  railroads 
which  cross  our  continent.  We  leave  San  Francisco  and 
are  soon  passing  through  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  so  noted 
for  its  wheat  crops  that  it  is  called  the  granary  of  the  state. 
We  spend  a  day  in  riding  about  the  slope  of  Mount  Shasta, 
a  wonderful  snow-capped,  extinct  volcano,  and  then  go 
northward  into  Oregon. 

We  are  now  in  the  Pacific  Northwest,  which  is  com 
posed  of  the  rich  states  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  These 
states  have  a  milder  climate  than  those  in  the  same  latitude 
upon  the  Atlantic  coast.  Oregon  is  warmer  than  Massa 
chusetts.  It  seldom  snows  in  Washington  west  of  the 
Cascade  Ranges,  and  its  people  have  called  it  the  "  Ever 
green  State." 

How  can  this  be,  and  the  place  be  so  far  north  ? 

It  is  because  of  the  Japanese  Current.     You  have  read 


3I2 


THE   PACIFIC   NORTHWEST 


of  the  warm  Gulf  Stream,  which  flows  up  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  through  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  Japanese  Current 
is  a  stream  of  the  same  kind  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  be 
gins  near  the  coast  of  China,  flows  northward  about  Japan, 
then  crosses  to  the  lower  part  of  Alaska,  and  flows  south 
ward  by  Puget  Sound.  Its  waters  act  like  a  mighty  heat 
ing  plant.  They  warm  the  air  above  them,  and  this  blows 
over  the  west  coasts  of  America  and  especially  over  the 
shores  of  southern  Alaska,  British  Columbia,  Washington, 
and  Oregon.  For  this  reason  there  is  but  little  snow  in 
those  regions.  Most  of  the  rains  which  fall  are  warm, 
and  the  moist  climate  covers  the  earth  with  a  luxuriant 
vegetation. 

Some  of  the  biggest  forests  of  the  United  States  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  The  standing  timber 
of  Oregon  is  said  to  be  worth  several  billion  dollars,  and 
Washington  sells  many  million  dollars'  worth  of  lumber 
each  year.  In  Washington  there  are  miles  of  trees,  which 
shoot  up  as  high  as  a  tall  church  steeple  before  they  put  out 
a  branch,  and  then  go  upward  with  branches  perhaps  a  hun 
dred  feet  higher.  Some  of  these  big  trees  are  hollow,  and 
it  is  said  that  a  Washington  farmer  used  one  as  a  house  while 
clearing  his  farm.  The  hole  in  the  tree  was  twenty-two 
feet  in  diameter  and  forty  feet  high.  A  knot  hole  near 
the  top  formed  the  chimney.  He  put  a  floor  on  the  inside 
eight  feet  above  the  earth,  and  lived  there  quite  comfort 
ably  with  his  family,  using  the  space  beneath  as  a  stable 
for  his  horse  and  cow. 

Some  of  the  best  timber  of  the  world  comes  from  this 
region.  Cedar  shingles  are  made  by  the  million  and  shipped 
to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  even  across  the  continent,  to 
roof  the  houses  of  the  East.  The  long  trees  are  cut  into 
logs  and  exported  to  other  countries,  and  many  of  them, 


OREGON 


sawed  into  boards,  are  used  in  different  parts  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  one  lumberyard  here  which  turns  out 
enough  boards  every  year  to  make  a  plank  roadway  as  wide 
as  a  city  street  from  New  York  to  Boston ;  and  as  we  ride 
through  the  woods  we  are  shown  many  carloads  of  boards, 
a  single  train  transporting  enough  to  pave  a  walk  a  foot  wide 
and  eighty  miles  long. 

We  make  an  excursion  from  Portland  into  the  forests, 
traveling  for  days  through  mighty  fir  trees  whose  overhang 
ing  branches  are  so  thick  that  they  almost  shut  out  the 
light.  Some  of  the  trees  are  as  big  around  as  the  Pullman 


A  Big-  Oregon  Fir  Tree  Notched  for  Cutting. 

car  in  which  we  are  riding,  and  they  rise  to  a  height  of  one 
hundred  feet  and  more  before  the  branches  begin.  There 
are  great  logs  lying  on  the  ground  and  huge  stumps  many 
feet  tjiick. 


314  THE   PACIFIC    NORTHWEST 

By  and  by  we  leave  the  train  and  take  a  small  engine  to 
the  lumber  camp  itself.  The  work  of  felling  the  trees  goes 
on  all  the  year  round.  There  is  no  snow  to  float  the  logs 
to  the  streams,  and  the  lumbermen  labor  summer  and  winter, 
using  railroads  to  get  them  out.  They  drag  the  great  tree 
trunks  through  the  forests  with  ropes  of  steel  and  load  them 
by  means  of  engines  on  to  the  cars.  A  single  log  forty  feet 
long  often  contains  as  much  as  five  thousand  feet  of  lumber, 
forming  a  full  load  for  one  car.  It  may  weigh  thirty  or 
forty  tons. 

We  watch  the  choppers  who  are  cutting  the  trees.  They 
stand  at  each  side  and  make  a  gash  in  the  trunk  so  large 
that  a  man  can  lie  within  it.  After  that  the  crosscut  saw 
is  drawn  back  and  forth,  and  by  and  by  the  giant  of  the 
forest  falls  with  a  crash  to  the  ground.  The  tree  is  so  large 
that  it  must  have  been  hundreds  of  years  growing.  It  was 
long  before  Columbus  came  to  America  wrhen  it  first  made 
its  way  through  the  soil ;  but  these  men  have  laid  it  low  in 
less  than  one  hour. 

We  are  delighted  with  Washington  and  Oregon.  Both 
states  are  agriculturally  rich.  They  have  many  large 
farms  which  are  watered  by  rain,  and  thousands  of  small 
ones  kept  moist  by  irrigation.  These  states  produce 
fine  wheat  and  oats,  large  crops  of  barley  and  flax,  while 
hops  and  all  the  vegetables  of  the  temperate  zone  can  be 
grown.  Both  are  noted  for  their  delicious  apples,  peaches, 
pears,  and  plums.  Oregon  makes  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  bushels  of  prunes  every  year;  and  the  apples 
grown  here  and  in  Washington  are  so  fine  that  they  com 
mand  the  highest  prices  in  all  parts  of  our  country  and 
Europe.  We  visit  orchards,  whose  trees  are  loaded  with 
ripe  red  fruit,  and  where  great  piles  of  apples  lie  on  the 
ground  awaiting  the  packers. 


PORTLAND 


315 


Great  Piles  of  Apples  lie  on  the  Ground. 

We  spend  a  few  days  in  Portland,  taking  the  "  Seeing 
Portland  Cars"  and  riding  upon  them  about  through  the 
streets.  We  admire  the  houses  and  their  gardens,  which 
are  filled  with  flowers.  The  Portlanders  call  their  town 
"The  Rose  City"  on  account  of  its  beautiful  roses  which 
bloom  both  summer  and  winter.  They  are  at  their  best  dur 
ing  the  first  week  of  June,  at  which  time  a  rose  festival  is 
held. 

In  one  of  our  excursions  we  ascend  Portland  Heights  at 
the  west  side  of  the  city  for  a  view  of  Mount  Hood,  and  at 
the  same  time  away  off  at  the  north  our  eyes  catch  the 
snows  on  the  top  of  Mount  Tacoma.  Mount  Hood  and 
Mount  Tacoma  are  among  the  grandest  peaks  of  our 
country.  The  latter  rears  its  head  to  an  altitude  of  three 
miles  above  the  sea,  and  with  its  slope  it  covers  twice  the 


3i6 


THE   PACIFIC    NORTHWEST 


area  of  Rhode  Island.  It  has  upon  it  about  forty  thousand 
acres  of  ice  and  snow.  It  is  only  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from 
the  cities  of  Tacoma  and  Seattle,  but  it  seems  to  be  but  a 
short  distance  away. 

From  Portland  we  take  a  sail  up  the  Columbia  River  to 
some  of  our  best  fishing  grounds.  Columbia  salmon  is 
sold  in  cans  in  almost  every  grocery  store.  It  is  delicious 
with  a  little  lemori  juice,  or  made  into  a  salad.  Fresh  sal- 


Fishing  for  Salmon. 

mon  is  far  better,  and  at  our  breakfast  on  the  boat  we  or 
der  salmon  steaks.  The  fish  are  so  large  that  they  are 
sometimes  served  in  this  form,  and  we  eat  great  slices 
of  them,  which  are  brought  smoking  hot  to  the  table. 

Salmon  spend  the  most  of  their  lives  in  the  ocean.  When 
full  grown  they  come  into  the  fresh  water  of  the  rivers  to 
lay  their  eggs,  and  at  certain  times  the  Columbia  is  filled 
with  them.  They  move  in  droves  and  are  caught  by  nets 
and  traps  in  great  numbers.  Within  the  past  thirty  years 


SALMON  FISHING 


3*7 


it  is  said  that  salmon  to  the  value  of  eighty  or  more  mil 
lion  dollars  have  been  taken  from  the  Columbia  River  and 
vast  quantities  from  Puget  Sound.  They  are  cooked  and 
canned  and  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  takes  only 
three  ordinary  salmon  to  fill  four  dozen  one-pound  cans. 

The  fishermen  are  for  the  most  part  white  men,  although 
a  few  are  Indians.     At  some  places,  along  the  river  where 


Fish  Wheel. 

the  current  is  swift,  wide  fish  wheels,  much  like  mill  wheels 
save  that  wire  nets  are  fastened  to  their  rims,  are  used. 
Such  a  wheel  is  attached  to  the  stern  of  a  boat  which  is  so 
anchored  that  the  current  keeps  the  wheel  turning.  As 
the  nets  strike  the  water  the  fish  are  caught  in  them  and 
the  wheel  lifts  them  up  and  slides  them  down  into  a  trough, 


318  THE    INLAND   EMPIRE 

through  which  they  fall  into  the  boat.  One  night,  not 
long  ago,  a  wheel  of  this  kind,  fastened  to  a  vessel,  caught 
fifteen  tons  of  fish,  so  many  that  their  weight  sunk  the 
boat.  This,  Oregon  people  say,  is  a  true  fish  story. 


41.     PUGET    SOUND    AND    THE    INLAND 
EMPIRE 

DETURNING  to  Portland,  we  again  take  the  cars  and 
1  \  ride  a  day  north  ward  to  Puget  Sound.  This  great  body 
of  water  is  sometimes  called  the  American  Mediterranean. 
It  is  almost  entirely  surrounded  by  land,  and  several  of 
the  finest  mountains  of  our  country  look  down  upon  it. 
Its  shores  are  well  wooded  and  it  has  many  fine  harbors. 
Indeed,  Puget  Sound  is  so  deep  that  ships  can  sail  almost 
anywhere  in  it.  It  teems  with  fish  of  which  it  has  about 
one  hundred  different  kinds  fit  for  eating. 

Our  first  stop  is  made  at  Tacoma  on  Commencement 
Bay,  within  plain  sight  of  the  grand  white  cone  of  Mount 
Tacoma  and  the  Cascade  Range.  This  is  a  thriving 
city  with  sawmills,  furniture  factories,  foundries,  and 
smelting  works.  It  has  an  excellent  harbor  and  carries  on 
an  extensive  trade  in  grain,  lumber,  coal,  tea,  and  silk. 

From  here  we  take  the  electric  cars  and  go  on  to  Seattle, 
the  largest  city  upon  the  Sound  and  one  of  the  most  thriv 
ing  industrial  centers  of  the  United  States.  Seattle  is  at 
the  end  of  several  great  lines  of  railroad,  and  some  of  the 
biggest  ships  which  sail  the  Pacific  start  from  here  with 
grain,  lumber,  and  other  products  for  Asia.  It  is  also  the 
chief  port  for  Alaska,  and  to  it  are  brought  the  vast 
quantities  of  gold  mined  in  that  country. 


SEATTLE 


We  find  Seattle  a  city  of  ups  and  downs.  It  has  more 
hills  than  Rome,  and  its  best  houses  stand  on  several  long 
ridges  which  rise  from  Puget  Sound  to  a  height  of  three 
or  four  hundred  feet.  Many  of  the  hills  have  been  cut 
down,  and  the  earth  composing  them  has  been  thrown 
into  the  low  lands,  making  more  space  for  building. 

Seattle  is  a  thriving  manufacturing  city.  It  has  more 
than  a  thousand  establishments  of  various  sizes  which 


At  the  Wharves  of  Seattle. 

make  things  to  sell,  and  among  them  are  smelting  works 
and  rolling  mills,  shipyards,  and  all  kinds  of  factories  for 
turning  out  lumber.  The  Puget  Sound  region  has  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  sawmills,  and  these  make  several 
billion  feet  of  boards  and  more  than  seven  thousand 
million  shingles  a  year. 

An  interesting  thing  about  Seattle  and  the  other  cities 
of  the  Pacific  Slope  is  the  use  they  make  of  the  waterfalls 


320  THE    INLAND   EMPIRE 

which  drop  down  the  steep  mountains.  They  have  har 
nessed  them  to  machinery,  and,  by  the  electricity  so  devel 
oped,  run  all  sorts  of  factories,  some  of  which  are  miles 
away.  There  are  many  falls  in  California  which  are  so 
used.  We  have  seen  how  Owens  Lake  benefits  Los  An 
geles.  Seattle  uses  a  force  equal  to  that  of  many  thousand 
horses  all  pulling  at  once,  which  comes  from  the  Snoqual- 
mie  Falls ;  and  the  electric  railroad  which  connects  it  with 
Tacoma  is  also  moved  by  water. 

If  we  should  cross  over  the  Cascade  Mountains  to  the 
city  of  Spokane,  lying  in  Washington  about  a  day's  ride  to 
the  eastward,  we  should  find  that  it  is  lighted  by  the  falls 
of  the  Spokane  River,  which  runs  through  it.  The  river 
plows  its  way  to  the  city  through  a  mighty  gorge  and  then 
dashes  down  fall  after  fall  for  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  feet  within  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 
The  waters  rage  and  foam  as  they  drop  from  level  to  level, 
sending  up  a  spray  which  the  sun  turns  to  diamonds. 
This  is  right  in  the  city.  At  the  side  of  the  river  great 
pipes  have  been  put  in,  and  the  water  has  been  so  conducted 
through  them  that  it  falls  upon  great  wheels  which  gener 
ate  electricity.  In  this  way  the  river  not  only  lights  the 
city,  but  turns  its  mills  and  factories  and  moves  the  electric 
cars  both  in  the  'city,  and  far  out  into  the  country. 

Spokane  is  one  of  the  most  thriving  of  the  interior  towns 
of  our  West.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  rich  farming  country, 
and  not  far  away  are  gold,  copper,  silver,  and  other  mines. 
It  is  sometimes  called  the  metropolis  of  the  Inland  Empire, 
by  which  is  meant  a  vast  region  lying  east  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  comprising  much  of  Idaho  and  Oregon  and  a 
large  part  of  eastern  Washington.  This  equals  in  extent 
all  the  New,  England  states,  together  with  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland. 


SPOKANE 


32I 


This  territory  was  once  a  vast  sea,  hemmed  in  by  the 
mountains,  which  finally  broke  forth  and  flowed  off  through 
the  canyons  which  now  form  part  of  the  Snake  and  Co 
lumbia  river  valleys.  Surrounding  the  sea  and  within  it 
were  volcanoes  which  vomited  ashes,  making  a  soil  which, 
when  the  water  was  taken  out,  was  exceedingly  rich.  For  a 
long  time  the  land  was  supposed  to  be  too  dry  for  farming, 
but  it  is  now  found  to  produce  excellent  wheat,  and  it  has 
become  one  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of  our  country.  It 
has  fine  orchards,  and  it  produces  grain  by  the  millions  of 
bushels  a  year. 

We  spend  some  time  in  this  region,  making  long  jour 
neys  up  the  Columbia  River,  and  going  off  to  the  mines 
in  the  mountains  about.  We  then  return  to  Spokane  and 
take  a  side  trip  several  hundred  miles  to  the  eastward  to 
see  something  of  the  wonders  of  the  Yellowstone  National 
Park  before  returning  to  Seattle  to  go  to  Alaska. 


42.     THE    YELLOWSTONE    NATIONAL    PARK 

YOU  must  not  think  the  Yellowstone  Park  is  a  little 
place  because  it  is  called  a  park.  It  is  really  as  big 
as  some  of  the  smaller  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  is  almost 
as  large  as  the  state  of  Connecticut.  It  is  owned  by  the 
government,  and  Congress  has  decided  that  men  must  never 
use  it  for  farming,  but  that  it  must  be  kept  as  a  national 
reservation,  belonging  to  you  and  me  and  the  other  people 
of  the  United  States  in  common. 

This  great  park,  at  its  lowest  point,  is  about  a  mile  above 
the  sea;  and  it  has  mountains   about   it   which   are   more 


322 


YELLOWSTONE   PARK 


than  two  miles  in  height.  Its  surface  is  a  rolling  plateau, 
parts  of  which  are  covered  with  woods,  while  in  other 
places  are  high  cliffs  and  deep,  yawning  canyons. 

The  Yellowstone  Park  is  full  of  natural  wonders.  It  is 
a  region  of  geysers.  It  has  five  hundred  hot  springs  that 
are  always  boiling  up  water  and  mud,  which  contain  differ- 


•MPHBBBggBiKS^gBI 


View  in  Yellowstone  Park. 

ent  minerals.  As  the  water  falls  back,  it  leaves  a  sediment 
which  in  time  builds  up  wonderful  structures  of  all  colors  of 
the  rainbow. 

There  is  one  hot  spring  which  has  thus  formed  a  white 
hill  about  it  more  than  two  hundred  feet  high.  As  the 
water  flows  out  of  the  top  of  the  hill,  it  falls  into  one  semi 
circular  basin  after  another  built  up  by  the  sediment. 
Some  of  the  basins  are  only  a  few  inches  deep,  and  others 
have  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  feet.  The  mineral  matter 
crystallizing  from  the  water  has  painted  upon  the  sides  of 
these  basins  all  the  shades  of  blue,  scarlet,  green,  and 
yellow.  It  has  frescoed  some  portions  with  lace  work,  and 


THE    GEYSERS  323 

given  others  the  appearance  of  having  been  embroidered 
with  beads.  At  the  top  the  water  is  boiling  hot.  It  grows 
cooler  as  it  falls  from  basin  to  basin  ;  so  that,  starting  at  the 
bottom,  we  could  have  a  bath  at  any  temperature  by  merely 
walking  up  to  the  top. 

What  would  you  think  of  a  spring  flowing  mineral  paint  ? 
There  is  such  a  spring  here  in  the  Yellowstone  Park,  which 


Hot  Springs. 

covers  more  than  an  acre.  It  boils  and  boils,  looking  like 
a  mighty  paint  pot  over  a  furnace  unseen.  The  paint  is  of 
all  colors,  and  it  bubbles  like  hot  mush  on  the  fire. 

Another  fountain  is  always  vomiting  forth  masses  of 
green,  slimy  mud  mixed  with  sulphur.  The  smell  of  that 
spring  is  so  sickening  that  one  must  put  his  handkerchief 
to  his  nose  as  soon  as  he  comes  near  it. 

The  geysers  are  hot  springs  which  from  time  to  time 
throw  enormous  bodies  of  boiling  water  and  steam  into  the 
air.  Some  spout  every  year  or  so,  and  others  every  few 
minutes.  The  Grand  Geyser,  the  greatest  in  the  world, 


3  24 


YELLOWSTONE   PARK 


throws  up  a  volume  of  steam  and  boiling  water  to  a  height 
of  three  hundred  feet;  and  "Old  Faithful"  sends  up 
every  hour  an  immense  volume  of  steam  and  boiling 

water  as  high  as  a  very  high 
church  steeple.  Old  Faith 
ful  keeps  spouting  for  sev 
eral  minutes,  and  the  water 
falls  back  in  clouds  of  steam 
and  spray.  There  are  other 
geysers  which  spurt  forth 
mud,  and  some  which  builc 
up  stony  foundations  about 
them,  formed  of  the  minerals 
contained  in  the  water. 

Another  wonder  of  this 
park  is  the  Yellowstone  River 
and  its  canyons.  At  one 
place  the  waters  of  the  river 
have  a  fall  of  three  hundred 
feet,  or  almost  twice  that  of 
the  American  Falls  at  Niag 
ara,  and  they  go  through  a 
gorge  far  more  wonderful. 
The  walls  are  a  third  of  a 
mile  high,  and  the  rocks 
which  compose  them  are  of 
such  colors  that  the  river 
seems  to  flow  between  walls 
of  precious  stones.  There  are  tons  of  rock  as  white  as 
crystal,  other  tons  which  shine  like  amethyst,  and  here 
and  there  rocks  which  glitter  like  diamonds  as  the  sun 
strikes  them.  Halfway  down  the  walls  of  the  canyon  are 
ledges  upon  which  eagles  have  built  their  nests;  and  if 


Old  Faithful. 


YELLOWSTONE   LAKE 


325 


we  look  carefully  we  may  perhaps  see  the  young  eagles  in 
them. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  strange  features  of  the 
Yellowstone  Park.  We  hardly  dare  describe  them  for  fear 
our  friends  at  home  may  think  of  us  as  they  did  of  a 
preacher  who  once  visited  this  region,  and  afterward  gave. a 
lecture  upon  it  to  his  congregation.  The  people  listened 


The  Fish  Pot 

quietly  until  he  told  them  he  had  stood  upon  a  rock  beside 
the  Yellowstone  Lake,  and  caught  a  fish  ;  and  then,  without 
moving,  had  given  his  fishing  rod  a  twist  and  had  thrown 
the  fish,  still  hanging  to  the  hook,  into  a  boiling  spring  be 
hind  him  and  cooked  it.  As  he  said  that,  one  of  the 
deacons  arose,  and  asked  the  pastor  to  stop  right  there, 
saying,  "We  have  listened  to-night  to  bigger  stories  than 
we  have  ever  heard  in  our  lives  before  ;  but  that  last  one  is 
too  much  —  too  much  !  " 

The  story,  however,  might  easily  have  been  true.     Yel- 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  21 


YELLOWSTONE   PARK 


lowstone  Lake  is  as  clear  as  crystal.  Its  waters  are  cold, 
and  are  filled  with  fine  fish.  Upon  its  eastern  shore,  only 
a  few  feet  away  from  the  edge  of  the  lake,  there  is  a  deep 
boiling  spring  called  the  Fish  Pot,  and  one  standing  there 

might  catch  a  fish,  and  easily 
cook  it  without  changing  his 
position. 

It  is  now  time  for  us  to 
return  to  the  Pacific  coast 
and  we  decide  to  go  back  to 
Seattle.  We  pass  through 
the  mining  regions  of  Mon 
tana,  where  many  millions 
of  dollars'  worth  of  silver 
and  gold  are  obtained  every 
year.  We  stay  a  while  at 
Butte  to  visit  the  famous 
Anaconda  Mine,  from  which 
thousands  of  tons  of  copper 
ore  are  shipped  daily,  about 
the  largest  output  of  copper 
of  any  mine  in  the  world. 
We  cross  Idaho  at  its  narrow 
part,  following  for  twenty- 
five  miles  the  northern  shore  of  beautiful  Lake  Pend 
d'Oreille,  and,  before  reaching  Puget  Sound,  pass  through 
the  Puyallup  Valley,  celebrated  for  its  hop  fields. 

The  cultivation  of  hops  is  one  of  the  industries  of  the 
state  of  Washington.  During  the  hop  harvest  as  many  as 
five  thousand  Indians  come  on  ponies  from  beyond  the 
mountains,  or  in  canoes  up  Puget  Sound,  to  find  employ 
ment  in  the  fields.  The  picking  is  done  by  the  Indian 
women  and  children,  while  the  braves  look  on  and  smoke. 


Falls  of  the  Yellowstone. 


HOPS 


327 


A  Hop  Field. 

The  average  crop  of  hops  in  Washington  is  about  eight 
million  pounds  and  is  worth  more  than  one  million  dollars. 


43.     AMONG   THE   INDIANS 

WE  find  Indians  at  the  railroad  stations  in  many  parts 
of  the  West.  They  have  come  to  sell  us  pottery, 
baskets,  and  buffalo  horns,  and  purses  and  moccasins 
made  of  skins  embroidered  with  beads.  How  sober  they 
look  as  they  stand  about  with  their  merchandise  in  their 
hands !  Their  faces  are  of  a  reddish  or  copper  color. 
That  is  why  they  are  called  the  red  race.  They  have  high 
cheek  bones,  straight  noses,  black  eyes,  and  long,  coarse 
black  hair.  Both  men  and  women  part  their  hair  in  the 
middle. 

But  where  are  the  feathers  which  we  usually  see  on  the 


(328) 


THE   SAVAGES 


329 


Indian's  head  in  the  pictures  ?  Very  few  Indians  wear 
feathers  in  their  hair  in  times  of  peace.  They  now  dress 
much  like  white  people,  except  that  some  of  them  have 
gayly  colored  blankets  over  their  shoulders.  The  men 
wear  soft  hats,  but  the  women  have  their  heads  bare,  or 
covered  with  a  shawl. 

Some  of  the  women  carry  curious  bundles  on  their  backs. 
The  bundles  look  like 
bags,  or  boxes,  made  in  the 
shape  of  a  little  coffin. 
There,  a  woman  has  turned 
about,  and  we  can  see  her 
bundle  more  plainly. 
Notice  the  hole  in  the  top 
and  the  odd  little  brown 
head  peeping  out.  That 
is  a  papoose  or  an  Indian 
baby.  See  how  sober  it  is. 
It  turns  its  head  but  it  does 
not  cry.  Indian  babies 
seldom  cry,  although 
you  might  think  that  being 
squeezed  and  cramped 
would  make  them  do  so. 
When  the  mother  goes 
home,  she  takes  the  baby 
off  her  back,  and  stands  A  Papoose. 

it  still  in  its  cradle  up  against  a  log  or  the  side  of  the 
house  until  she  is  ready  to  take  it  again. 

Where  did  the  Indians  come  from  ? 

When  Columbus  discovered  America,  there  were  Indians 
all  over  this  continent.  They  were  the  only  inhabitants  on 
this  side  of  the  world.  There  were  not  many  of  them, 


330 


AMONG   THE    INDIANS 


and  it  is  said  that  all  those  of  our  country  numbered  less 
than  half  as  many  people  as  there  are  now  in  Philadelphia. 
When  our  forefathers  settled  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
they  got  some  land  of  the  Indians  by  making  treaties  with 
them.  Then  there  were  Indian  wars  during  which  they 

HI  took  more  land  ;  and,  step 
by  step,  the  white  men 
crowded  the  red  men  west 
ward.  We  made  other 
treaties,  by  which  we  paid 
the  Indians  for  their  lands, 
until  now  all  they  have 
left  is  but  a  small  part  of 
the  territory  originally  oc 
cupied  by  them.  This 
land  is  chiefly  in  the  West, 
and  a  large  part  of  it  lies 
in  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region.  It  is  in  scattered 
tracts,  called  reservations, 

Indian  Chief  —  Black  Bear.  each,     ill     most     CaSCS,    OC- 

cupied  by  one  tribe  of  Indians.  Many  of  the  reservations 
are  small,  consisting  of  but  a  few  hundred  acres,  and  others 
are  as  large  as  some  of  the  smaller  states  of  the  Union. 
All  together,  the  lands  so  set  aside  contain  many  millions 
of  acres.  They  are  scattered  through  a  great  part  of  the 
United  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Some  tribes 
have  given  up  a  part  of  their  reservations  for  sale  to  the 
white  settlers,  and  the  Indians  live  upon  the  remainder 
which  the  government  has  divided  into  smaller  tracts  and 
given  to  them  individually.  This  land  is  held  in  trust 
for  the  Indians  until  they  show  themselves  competent 
to  manage  their  own  affairs  and  during  the  trust  period  it 


TRIBAL   CUSTOMS 


331 


cannot  be  disposed  of  without  the  consent  of  the  govern 
ment. 

Are  there  different  kinds  of  Indians  ? 

Yes,  indeed  ;  all  the  Indians  are  by  no  means  alike.  If 
the  boys  of  the  different  tribes  were  to  come  together,  they 
could  no  more  under 
stand  one  another  than 
we  could  understand  the 
children  of  Germany, 
France,  or  Italy.  There 
are  more  than  two  hun 
dred  different  Indian  dia 
lects  spoken,  and  the  only 
way  some  tribes  have  of 
communicating  with 
other  tribes  is  by  signs. 

There  is  also  a  great 
difference  in  the  customs 
of  the  tribes.  Some  are 
more  civilized  than  others. 
Most  of  the  Indians  who 
once  lived  east  of  the 
Mississippi  now  reside 
on  the  western  reservations,  and  engage  in  farming  and 
stock  raising,  or  other  peaceful  pursuits  of  civilized  life. 
The  Indians  have  a  great  deal  of  property.  In  1914  our 
government  estimated  the  value  of  their  possessions  at 
nine  hundred  million  dollars.  Some  of  this  was  in  agricul 
tural  lands  and  some  in  forests.  Some  was  in  oil  lands 
and  some  in  mineral  lands  of  other  kinds,  while  a  great 
deal  was  in  money  that  had  been  received  from  the  sale  of 
the  Indian  lands  and  deposited  in  the  United  States  Treas 
ury  for  them. 


Indian  Chief  —  Ochohisa. 


332 


AMONG   THE    INDIANS 


In  former  times  the  Indians  were  dangerous  and  cruel 
foes.  They  hid  behind  rocks  and  bushes,  and  when  cor 
nered  would  fight  to  the  death.  A  warrior  was  held  in  great 
honor.  To-day  all  such  things  are  done  away  with,  and 
our  government  is  gradually  civilizing  even  what  were 
formerly  the  most  primitive  tribes.  But  the  early  Indians 
were  also  strong  and  brave  friends,  and  often  proved  of 
great  help  to  the  white  settlers  in  many  ways. 

The  Indians  are  fond  of  their  children.  They  teach 
them  to  be  brave  and  to  endure  severe  pain  without  crying 
or  flinching.  In  many  of  the  tribes  beys  are  taught  to 
hunt  and  fish.  They  learn  to  paddle  canoes,  and  both 
boys  and  girls  play  about  in  the  water.  Nearly  every  tribe 
has  some  strange  customs  relating  to  children.  For  in- 

.  e!>  O 

stance,  the  Chippewas  of  Minnesota  choose  their  own 
names.  When  a  boy  arrives  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thir 
teen,  he  finds,  some  morning,  a  bowl  of  charcoal  placed 
before  him  instead  of  his  regular  food.  He  knows  what 
this  means.  He  must  go  off  into  the  woods  and  fast.  He 
remains  in  the  woods  until  he  falls  asleep,  and  if  during 
his  sleep  he  dreams  of  some  animal,  he  chooses  the  name 
of  that  animal  as  his  own  name,  and  that  animal  is  con 
sidered  his  guardian  spirit. 

In  some  parts  of  the  Southwest  are  Indians  whose  fore 
fathers  were  farmers  long  before  Columbus  discovered 
America.  The  Hopi  Indians  and  others  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  have  always  had  towns,  and  very  odd  towns 
they  are.  Often  you  will  see  a  little  flat-topped  hill  rising 
seven  or  eight  hundred  feet  above  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Upon  these  the  Indians  built  their  houses  in  the  early  days, 
because  there  they  were  safe  from  wild  animals  and  also 
their  enemies,  and  they  continue  this  practice  to  the  pres 
ent  day. 


THE    PUEBLOS 


333 


They  make  the  houses  of  stone  or  sun-dried  bricks,  and 
build  one  on  top  of  another,  in  great  terraces,  or  steps,  so 
that  they  can  climb  on  ladders  from  house  to  house.  In 
some  of  the  pueblos  or  towns  there  are  no  doors  to  the  first 
house,  and  one  has  to  go  up  a  ladder  and  get  on  the  roof 
before  he  comes  to  the  ground  floor.  To  reach  the  second 
house,  one  must  enter  from  the  roof  of  the  first,  and  so  on. 


A  Pueblo. 

The  roofs  of  the  lower  houses  form  the  playgrounds  of 
the  children  above.  In  many  of  these  towns  the  dogs  and 
cats,  as  well  as  the  children,  climb  up  and  down  ladders 
and  steep  stone  steps,  going  with  the  greatest  ease  from 
roof  to  roof. 

Many  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  are  farmers.  Some  of  them 
have  large  peach  orchards,  surrounded  by  stone  walls  to 


334  AMONG   THE    INDIANS 

keep  out  the  sheep  and  goats.  They  raise  apricots,  water 
melons,  and  also  corn,  beans,  and  pumpkins.  They  make 
blankets,  baskets,  and  pottery ;  and  are  in  many  other 
ways  quite  civilized. 

The  Navajo  (nav'-a-ho)  Indians  have  thousands  of 
horses  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sheep.  They  are  in 
dustrious  and  frugal.  They  live  in  little  round  huts  made 
of  poles  covered  with  earth,  which  have  holes  in  the  top 
for  chimneys.  Some  most  beautiful  blankets  are  made  by 
the  Navajo  women.  They  are  woven  by  hand  and  some 
times  sell  for  as  much  as  one  hundred  dollars  apiece. 

A  large  number  of  Indians  live  in  what  was  once  the 
Indian  Territory,  but  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  State  of 
Oklahoma.  This  territory  was  set  aside  more  than  fifty 
years  ago,  and  Congress  hoped  to  make  it  the  home  of  all 
the  Indians.  As  it  is  now,  much  of  it  is  owned  by  the  five 
civilized  tribes,  —  the  Cherokees,  the  Chickasaws,  the 
Choctaws,  the  Creeks,  and  the  Seminoles.  Many  of  these 
Indians  are  more  civilized  than  some  of  our  white  people. 
They  have  beautiful  houses  and  large  and  prosperous 
farms.  They  have  schools  and  churches.  The  tribal  form 
of  government  is  gradually  being  abolished. 

The  Cherokees  have  an  alphabet,  and  their  books  are 
printed  in  their  own  language.  Many  of  the  men  of  these 
civilized  nations  marry  white  women,  and  the  Indian  girls 
often  marry  white  men. 

For  a  long  time  our  government  has  been  trying  to 
educate  and  civilize  the  Indians.  We  have  an  Indian 
Bureau  connected  with  our  Interior  Department  at  Wash 
ington,  and  the  head  of  this  is  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs.  Superintendents,  who  report  to  him,  are  placed 
in  charge  of  every  reservation  ;  and  through  them  the 
Indians  are  regularly  supplied  with  certain  amounts  of 


INDIAN    SCHOOLS  335 

food,  clothes,  cattle,  horses,  and  farming  tools.  Formerly 
everything  was  given  to  the  Indians  free,  but  now  all  ex 
cept  the  sick,  aged,  and  disabled  must  perform  labor  for 
what  they  get  or  pay  for  it  in  cash  on  the  easy  payment 
plan.  Upon  some  of  the  reservations  irrigation  works  have 
been  established,  and  on  others  mining  of  various  kinds 
is  carried  on.  Some  of  the  Indians  have  sawmills,  and  a 
great  many  have  farms  of  their  own,  supporting  themselves. 

Our  government  does  all  it  can  to  make  the  Indians  use 
ful  citizens.  It  regards  the  red  men,  women,  and  children 
as  pupils  in  a  great  school,  embracing  the  various  reserva 
tions,  and  it  has  a  force  of  something  like  six  thousand  men 
and  women  to  teach  them.  It  has  established  several 
schools  for  the  education  of  Indian  boys  and  girls  similar 
to  the  one  we  saw  at  Hampton. 

There  are  day  schools  for  pupils  from  the  first  to  the 
fifth  grades  situated  near  the  homes  of  the  Indians.  Here 
the  children  study  the  same  things  that  we  do,  and  the 
boys  are  taught  also  gardening  and  manual  training,  while 
the  girls  learn  sewing  and  housekeeping.  Lunch  is  served 
at  many  of  these  schools.  There  are  also  boarding  schools, 
some  on  the  reservations  and  some  at  a  distance  from  them. 
The  children  live  at  the  boarding  schools  and  go  home  only 
during  the  summer  vacations.  These  schools  have  class 
rooms  like  ours  and  have  also  workshops  where  the  boys 
learn  to  be  carpenters,  masons,  printers,  tailors,  and  harness- 
makers.  Some  study  plumbing  and  others  learn  to  be 
engineers.  If  a  boy  has  no  land,  he  is  advised  to  learn  a 
trade.  By  these  means  nearly  all  of  the  Indians  have  be 
come  more  or  less  civilized.  They  have  adopted  the  white 
man's  clothing,  and  there  is  but  little  doubt  that  in  time  all 
will  be  cultivating  their  farms  or  earning  their  living  by 
other  work  as  we  do. 


336  ALASKA 

44.     ALASKA 

OUR  next  few  weeks  are  to  be  spent  in  Alaska  (p.  341), 
that  great  territory  which  forms  the  northwestern 
end  of  this  continent.  It  is  separated  from  the  main  body 
of  the  United  States  by  the  vast  extent  of  British  Amer 
ica,  and  as  we  look  at  it  on  the  map,  it  seems  far  away. 
Its  northern  coasts  are  within  the  Arctic  Circle ;  and  at 
the  west  it  goes  so  close  to  Asia  that,  were  Bering  Strait 
frozen  over,  we  could  cross  by  reindeer  sledges  within  a 
few  hours,  and  be  upon  Russian  soil  in  the  land  of  Siberia. 

Until  1867  'Alaska  belonged  to  the  Russians.  They 
then  sold  it  to  the  United  States  for  seventy-two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  it  is  now  an  important  part  of  our 
country.  It  was  bought  through  William  H.  Seward,  who 
was  then  Secretary  of  State.  At  that  time  many  of  our 
people  thought  the  land  contained  nothing,  and  that  it  was 
always  buried  in  ice  and  snow,  and  they  raised  an  outcry 
against  the  purchase,  calling  it  "  Seward's  Folly."  Since 
then,  as  we  shall  see  during  our  travels,  Alaska  has  brought 
us  in  a  vast  deal  of  money.  It  has  produced  furs,  fish, 
and  minerals  worth  many  times  its  cost,  and  we  would  not 
now  sell  it  again  for  hundreds  of  millions. 

The  area  of  Alaska  is  enormous.  It  would  make  more 
than  twelve  states  as  big  as  New  York,  or  more  than 
seventy  the  size  of  Massachusetts.  The  whole  of  New 
England  could  be  put  into  one  of  its  corners  ;  and  all  together 
it  comprises  about  one  sixth  of  all  the  land  of  our  country. 

Alaska  has  high  mountains  and  great  rivers  ;  and  at  the 
north  are  vast  tundras,  or  marshy,  frozen  plains.  The 
mountains  are  snow-capped,  and  down  their  sides  move 
mighty  glaciers  which  make  a  noise  like  thunder  as  they 
break  off  and  fall  into  the  sea.  Some  of  the  mountains 


VOLCANOES 


337 


are  volcanoes.  Mount  Wrangell  is  always  throwing  out 
fire  and  vapor,  and  Pavloff,  at  the  western  end  of  the 
Alaskan  Peninsula,  sometimes  bursts  forth  into  terrific  ex 
plosions  which  shake  the  country  for  miles  about.  The 
Aleutian  Islands,  which  extend  like  stepping  stones  from 
the  southern  part  of  this  territory  almost  to  Asia,  are 
largely  volcanic ;  and  in  Bering  Sea  volcanoes  have  risen 
out  of  the  water,  thrown  masses  of  heated  rock  and  clouds 


"Alaska  has  high  mountains  and  great  rivers." 

of  steam  into  the  air,  and  after  a  few  years  sunk  back 
again.  The  land  is  one  of  hot  springs,  including  some  on 
Seward  Peninsula,  near  Nome,  which  are  health  resorts. 

Is  not  this  a  strange  country,  with  its  vast  fields  of  ice, 
and  its  mountains  of  snow,  out  of  some  of  which  burst  hot 


338  ALASKA 

springs  and  blazing  volcanoes  ?  We  scarcely  know  what 
to  expect,  and  are  at  a  loss  as  to  what  clothes  to  take.  Our 
friends  have  told  us  that  Alaska  is  so  cold  that  one  needs 
a  fur  sleeping  bag  to  keep  from  freezing  at  night,  and 
others  say  that  parts  of  the  country  are  as  warm  as  Vir 
ginia.  We  shall  find  that  both  statements  are  true.  Alaska 
has  different  climates  in  its  different  parts.  Most  of  it  is 
covered  with  snow  during  a  greater  part  of  the  year. 
Northern  and  central  Alaska  have  long,  dark  winter  nights 
and  long,  bright  summer  days.  In  some  regions  the  frost 
never  comes  out  of  the  ground.  Near  Nome,  on  the  Sew- 
ard  Peninsula,  a  shaft  was  recently  sunk  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet,  and  down  to  that  depth  the  ground  was  frozen. 
In  the  tundras  there  is  always  ice  below  the  thin  soil, 
although  the  latter  thaws  out  in  the  summer. 

Upon  the  other  hand,  a  great  part  of  southern  Alaska, 
including  the  region  about  Sitka  and  the  Aleutian  Islands, 
is  so  tempered  by  the  warm  winds  from  the  Pacific  Ocean 
that  their  climates  compare  with  those  of  the  best  parts  of 
our  Union.  There  the  winter  weather  is  much  like  that  of 
Washington,  or  St.  Louis,  and  in  summer  it  seldom  grows 
hotter  than  eighty-seven  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  vegetation  of  southeastern  Alaska  compares  with 
some  countries  of  northern  Europe.  It  has  forests  almost 
as  dense  as  those  of  Louisiana  or  Florida.  There  are  wild 
hops,  wild  onions,  and  wild  berries.  The  raspberries  and 
salmonberries  are  delicious,  and  at  the  entrance  to  Glacier 
Bay,  on  Strawberry  Point,  there  are  so  many  strawberries 
that  when  they  blossom  the  land  looks  like  a  field  of 
daisies,  and  when  they  ripen,  the  berries  fairly  make  the 
ground  red.  There  is  high  grass  on  the  islands  of  south 
ern  Alaska ;  and  even  along  the  Arctic  Ocean,  dandelions 
and  buttercups  blossom  in  July  and  August. 


THE   GLACIERS  339 

During  the  short  summer  the  sun  shines  all  day  and 
about  half  of  the  night,  so  that  vegetation  grows  much 
faster  than  in  the  lands  farther  south.  The  Yukon  Valley 
is  covered  with  grass  in  the  summer,  and  beautiful  ferns, 
wild  celery,  and  wild  parsnips  grow.  There  are  many 
wild  berries  and  great  beds  of  red  and  purple  flowers. 
The  banks  of  the  streams  are  often  spotted  with  iris 
blossoms,  and  the  edges  of  the  lakes  and  ponds  are  bor 
dered  with  bright  yellow  lilies.  There  are  trees  almost 
everywhere  in  Alaska,  although  as  one  goes  northward 
they  grow  shorter  and  shorter,  until,  on  the  tundras,  they 
fade  off  into  swamps- 
Alaska  is  a  land  of  great  rivers.  The  Yukon,  which 
divides  it  almost  in  half,  is  one  of  the  large  streams  of  the 
globe.  It  rises  beyond  the  Canadian  boundary  and  flows 
towards  the  west  in  the  shape  of  a  bow,  a  distance  about 
as  great  as  from  New  York  to  the  Mississippi  River,  be 
fore  it  empties  out  through  Norton  Sound  into  Bering 
Sea.  In  places  it  is  ten  miles  in  width,  and  its  watershed 
comprises  almost  half  the  country.  The  Kuskokwim  is 
another  large  river. 

In  addition  to  the  rivers  are  the  fiords,  where  the 
ocean  runs  into  the  land.  We  shall  see  many  of  these 
during  our  steamer  trip  northward,  traveling  for  a  thousand 
miles  or  more  in  and  out  among  islands,  by  and  through 
these  high-walled  waterways.  In  some  fiords  steep  cliffs 
rise  on  each  side,  and  they  are  so  narrow  that  the  sunlight 
seldom  gets  in  except  during  a  few  hours  at  midday.  It 
is  almost  always  twilight  in  such  places.  The  air  is  moist, 
and  the  walls  of  the  cliffs  are  so  wet  that  they  are  green 
the  year  round. 

At  the  ends  of  some  of  these  fiords  are  glaciers,  and  as 
we  go  on  northward  we  shall  see  many  of  these  mighty 


340 


ALASKA 


rivers  of  ice  which  are  slowly  moving  down  the  mountains 
and  breaking  off  in  great  blocks  into  the  sea.  Glaciers 
are  found  in  Alaska  in  greater  magnificence  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  world.  The  high,  steep  mountains  condense 
the  water-laden  winds  from  the  ocean,  and  the  snow  falls 
in  great  quantities. 

Upon  the    western  slope  of    Mount    St.    Elias,    eleven 
enormous  blocks    of  ice    are    moving   down   towards    the 


A  Glacier  — Alaska. 

ocean.  One  of  them  is  fifty  miles  long  and  twenty  miles 
wide,  and  another,  as  we  observe  it  from  the  steamer,  ends 
in  a  wall  of  ice  two  hundred  feet  high. and  five  miles  in 
width,  stretching  back  into  the  country  as  far  as  our 
eyes  can  reach.  About  Sumdum  Bay  are  one  hundred 
or  more  of  these  frozen  fields  which  are  always  dropping 
off  ice  into  the  ocean.  We  can  hear  the  thunder  of  the 


34i 


342  ALASKA 

masses  as  they  fall  from  the  glaciers  into  the  water.  At 
the  same  time  there  is  the  roar  of  the  cataracts,  falling 
down  the  sides  of  the  mountains  ;  and  the  granite  walls  of 
the  cliffs  about  are  streaked  with  cascades. 

The  Alaskan  glaciers  are  surpassingly  beautiful.  The 
ice  is  of  the  purest  blue,  and  as  we  go  by  them  on  ship 
board,  they  seem  like  huge  walls  of  sapphire.  They  look 
as  though  they  were  great  torrents  of  water  which  the 
wand  of  Jack  Frost  had  turnd  to  ice  as  they  were  about  to 
plunge  into  the  sea. 

Take  the  Muir  Glacier,  for  instance,  which  faces  the 
ocean  on  Glacier  Bay.  If  you  could  make  Niagara  Falls 
three  times  as  wide  as  they  are,  and  double  their  height, 
and  then  freeze  the  whole  mass  of  water  to  ice  as  it  falls, 
you  might  have  some  idea  of  this  wonderful  glacier.  You 
must,  however,  imagine  a  background  of  snow-clad  moun 
tains  three  miles  in  height,  and  a  bright  sun  which,  as  it 
strikes  the  ice  wall,  turns  it  to  opals  and  diamonds  and 
lights  up  the  icicles  so  that  they  shine  with  all  the  hues  of 
the  rainbow. 

It  is  terribly  interesting  to  watch  the  glaciers  as  they 
break  off  and  fall  into  the  sea.  The  noise  makes  us 
tremble ;  the  spray  flies  into  the  air ;  the  water  boils ; 
great  waves  roll  out  on  every  side,  and  a  few  moments 
later  a  huge  iceberg  rises  to  the  surface.  In  traveling 
through  these  seas  we  are  seldom  out  of  sight  of  icebergs, 
and  our  captain  is  careful  to  have  his  ship  out  of  the  way 
when  a  glacier  breaks  off  and  an  iceberg  is  formed. 

As  we  make  our  way  northward  along  the  coast,  we  now 
and  then  see  an  Indian  village.  The  Indians  live  close  to 
the  sea  because  they  get  their  living  by  fishing,  and  also 
on  account  of  the  forests,  which  come  down  to  the  edge  of 
the  water.  Many  of  the  towns  consist  of  but  one  row 


THE   NATIVES 


343 


of  wooden  huts,  in  front  of  which  stand  carved  posts 
called  totems.  These  totems  are  thirty  or  forty  feet  high, 
and  they  make  us  think  of  a  forest  of  dead  trees  until  our 
ship  comes  closer,  and  we  can  see  the  houses  below  them. 
They  are  carved  with  representations  of  different  animals 
and  birds.  Upon  some  are  bears,  quails,  and  eagles ;  and 
others  have  grotesque 
figures  of  men.  They 
may  be  called  the  coats 
of  arms,  memorial 
posts,  or  genealogical 
trees  of  the  natives, 
and  are  not  idols,  as 
has  been  supposed. 

At  every  stop  of  our 
steamer  the  Indians 
bring  us  beads,  moc 
casins,  and  carved 
things  for  sale.  At 
Wrangell  we  meet 
some  Tlinket  squaws. 
These  Indians  blacken 
their  faces,  and  the  women  wear  plugs  of  iron,  wood,  or 
bone  in  their  lower  lips.  We  see  also  Aleuts  farther  on 
in  our  travels.  They  are  the  Indians  of  the  Aleutian  Is 
lands,  whose  huts  are  half  underground.  They  subsist 
largely  on  fish  and  are  fond  of  whale  blubber. 

Still  farther  north,  and  along  the  coast  of  the  Bering  Sea 
and  in  the  basin  of  the  Yukon,  are  Eskimos  belonging  to 
some  other  strange  tribes  which  inhabit  the  Arctic 
regions  of  the  North  American  continent.  They  are 
shorter  than  our  Indians.  They  have  coarse,  black  hair, 
black  eyes,  high  cheek  bones,  and  broad,  flat  noses.  They 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  22 


Totem  Poles. 


(344) 


Eskimos. 


THE   ESKIMOS'   MODE   OF   LIVING 


345 


dress  from  head  to  foot  in  furs,  having  fur  hoods  which 
they  draw  over  their  heads.  In  the  coldest  regions  many 
of  them  have  a  second  garment  of  fishskin,  which  they 
wear  over  the  furs.  The  fishskin  garment  is  considered 
very  desirable ;  for,  in  case  of  necessity,  its  owner  can  eat 
it.  Both  men  and  women  often  wear  pieces  of  bone  and 
ivory  in  their  lower  lips  and  noses,  and  many  tattoo  their 
faces. 

The  Eskimos  live,  for  the  most  part,  on  fish  and  seals. 
They  are  fond  of  all  kinds  of  fats,  and  it  is  said  that  they 
will  eat  tallow  candles  if  they  have  no  other  food.  A 
missionary  who  traveled  through  Alaska  tells  us  that  he 
had  great  trouble  keeping  his  castor  oil,  for  the  natives 
looked  upon  it  as  a  delicious  foreign  drink.  He  had  to 
limit  his  prescriptions  to  one  dose  at  a  sickness,  and  would 
never  allow  a  patient  to  have  more  than  fourtablespoonfuls 
at  a  time. 

In  summer  many  of  the  Eskimos  dwell  in  skin  tents, 
and  in  winter  they  often  make  a  tent  of  blocks  of  pure  ice, 
stretching  their  summer  tent  of  skin  over  the  top  as  a  roof. 
They  keep  their  houses  a  little  warm  with  stove  lamps, 
but  as  a  rule  rely  chiefly  upon  their  clothing  for  heat. 
They  travel  from  place  to  place  upon  snowshoes,  carrying 
their  household  goods  on  sledges  drawn  by  dogs  or  rein 
deer.  The  reindeer  were  imported  some  years  ago  from 
Russia,  and  there  are  now  thousands  of  them.  They  are 
valuable  for  transporting  all  kinds  of  goods  and  for  their 
meat,  milk,  and  skins.  We  take  a  reindeer  ride  during 
our  stay.  It  is  bitter  cold,  and  we  are  clad  in  reindeer 
hoods  and  coats  of  reindeer  skin  with  the  fur  turned  in 
ward.  The  great  animals  are  harnessed  to  a  sled  in  which 
they  drag  us  over  the  snow  up  hill  and  down  dale  at  the 
rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour. 


346  ALASKA 

45.     ALASKA  — FISH,    FURS,    AND    MINERALS 

THE  chief  things  for  which  Alaska  is  valuable  to  the 
United  States  are  its  furs,  fish,  and  minerals,  and 
they  have  long  since  repaid  us  the  original  cost  of  the 
country.  Alaska  is  one  of  the  great  fur  lands  of  the  world. 
It  has  sea  otter  so  valuable  that  a  single  skin  will  bring  the 
hunter  a  hundred  dollars  or  so,  and  a  fine  overcoat  lined 
with  such  furs  will  sell  for  as  much  as  two  thousand 
dollars.  Since  we  bought  Alaska  of  Russia,  we  have  sold 
otter  skins  to  an  amount  much  greater  than  the  price  we  paid 
for  the  territory.  We  have  caught  many  beavers,  minks, 
and  foxes,  and  have  sold  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  skins 
of  the  fur  seal. 

The    fur    seal  is  among  the  queerest  of  animals.     It  is 
a  huge  creature,  the  males  often  weighing  five    hundred 


Seals. 

pounds,  and  the  females  one  hundred  or  more.  It  has 
beautiful  eyes  of  bluish  hazel  or  black,  which  change 
in  expression  when  it  is  angry;  and  its  mouth  and  jaws 
are  not  unlike  those  of  a  Newfoundland  dog,  save  that  the 
lips  are  pressed  tightly  together.  The  seal  has  flippers 


SEALS  347 

under  his  body.  Those  at  the  shoulders  look  like  a  pair  of 
black  hands,  the  arms  of  which  are  concealed  under  the 
skin,  and  the  hind  flippers  take  the  place  of  legs  and  feet. 
It  has  two  coats  of  fur,  a  short,  crisp,  bristly  one  of  long 
hair  and  underneath  that  a  soft,  close  one  of  a  down  like 
fur.  It  is  the  fur  that  makes  the  skin  valuable,  and  it  is 
only  the  under  coat  that  is  kept  when  the  sealskin  is 
cured. 

One  of  the  strangest  things  about  the  seal  is  the  summer 
trip  which  he  makes  to  Alaska.  He  looks  upon  certain 
islands  as  his  summer  home,  and  goes  there  every  year. 
During  the  winter  he  lives  in  the  warm  waters  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  far  south  of  Bering  Sea ;  but  in  spring  he 
starts  northward,  swimming  on  and  on,  until  he  reaches  the 
four  little  Pribilof  Islands.  There  are  many  thousands 
of  seals.  They  come  at  about  the  same  time  and  dimb 
upon  the  rocks,  remaining  there  until  cold  weather  drives 
them  again  to  the  south. 

It  is  upon  these  islands  that  the  young  seals  are  born. 
The  old  males  come  first,  and  pick  out  the  spot  where  they 
are  to  live  with  their  families.  After  a  few  weeks  the  fe 
males  are  seen  swimming  in,  and  soon  the  island  is  covered 
with  little  colonies  of  these  curious  animals,  each  colony 
keeping  to  a  certain  extent  to  itself. 

The  baby  seals  make  us  think  of  young  dogs,  and  their 
cry  is  like  the  bleating  of  a  lamb.  The  mother's  call  to  her 
little  ones  is  similar  to  that  of  a  sheep,  and  the  babies 
play  together  like  puppies.  When  they  are  about  six 
weeks  old,  they  go  into  shallow  pools  and  learn  to  swim; 
and  as  they  grow  stronger,  they  roll  down  into  the  sea  and 
take  excursions  of  miles.  The  seals  are  so  valuable  that 
men  are  allowed  to  kill  only  a  few  of  them  each  year.  The 
ones  chosen  are  males  from  three  to  four  years  old.  They 


348  ALASKA 

are  not  hard  to  catch.  They  have  no  fear  of  man,  and 
can  be  easily  driven  off  in  herds  or  droves,  apart  from  the 
others.  The  seal  hunters  carry  clubs  about  seven  feet 
long  and  as  thick  as  a  baseball  bat.  They  stun  the  ani 
mals  by  striking  them  on  the  skull,  and  then  other  men 
come  along  with  sharp  knives  and  kill  them. 

The  skins  are  now  taken  carefully  off,  and  piled  up  with 
layers    of    salt   between    them.      After   being   thoroughly 


Sitka,  Alaska. 

salted,  they  are  done  up  in  square  bundles  and  shipped  to 
London,  where  all  sealskins  are  dressed.  This  is  done  by 
shaving  the  skin  very  thin.  This  cuts  off  the  roots  of  the 
stiff  hairs  which  form  the  outer  coat,  but  does  not  touch 
those  of  the  downy  fur  below.  The  long  hairs  are  now 


THE   FISHERIES  349 

brushed  off,  and  the  fur  is  dyed  black  or  a  rich  brown, 
just  as  we  see  it  in  sealskin  coats. 

During  our  stay  on  the  Pribilof  Islands  we  have  a  talk 
with  the  fur  traders.  They  tell  us  that  the  seals  are  fast 
disappearing,  although  the  United  States  government  does 
all  it  can  to  protect  them.  We  cannot,  however,  control 
the  English,  Japanese,  and  Russian  hunters  who  watch 
for  the  seals  as  they  go  back  and  forth  to  the  islands, 
and  kill  them  while  they  are  swimming  through  the 
ocean.  In  1867,  when  we  took  possession  of  Alaska,  as 
many  as  five  million  seals  came  to  the  islands.  A  few  years 
later  there  were  only  three  millions,  and  the  number 
which  now  comes  is  only  a  hundred  thousand  or  so,  and  it 
grows  less  year  by  year. 

On  our  way  up  the  coast  of  Alaska  we  pass  many  sal 
mon  canneries  and  see  vessels  going  in  carrying  supplies 
to  the  fishermen  and  taking  out  salmon  for  shipment  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  More  than  one  half  of  the  salmon  of 
the  United  States  comes  from  these  waters,  and  thousands 
of  men  are  engaged  in  the  business.  The  catch  now  sells 
for  millions  of  dollars  a  year ;  and  it  is  eaten  not  only  in 
our  country  but  all  over  the  world. 

Alaska  has  also  cod,  halibut,  trout,  herring,  smelts,  and 
other  fishes.  Of  these  the  halibut  is  the  most  valuable. 
It  is  caught  with  hooks  by  the  Indians,  with  other  fish 
as  bait.  There  is  also  a  fish  which  is  rather  rich  for  eat 
ing  ;  but  which,  according  to  Major  General  Greeley,  who 
spent  a  long  time  in  Alaska,  is  used  by  some  of  the  natives 
for  lighting  their  houses.  This  is  the  candle  fish,  which  is 
so  oily  that  when  a  wick  or  pith  is  stuck  in  its  back  it  will, 
when  lighted,  burn  like  a  candle. 

The  chief  resources  of  Alaska,  however,  are  neither  furs 
nor  fish  ;  they  are  minerals.  We  know  something  of  what 


350 


ALASKA 


the  fish  and  furs  amount  to,  but  a  large  part  of  the  mineral 
territory  is  yet  to  be  explored,  although  vast  quantities  of 
gold  have  been  discovered,  and  we  know  that  there  are 
large  deposits  of  coal,  copper,  and  tin.  Millions  of 
dollars'  worth  of  gold  are  now  being  taken  out  of  the 
sand  and  earth  during  the  short  summers,  and  thriving 


Washing  Gold. 

little  cities  have  grown  up  to  supply  the  miners,  many  of 
whom,  with  their  wives  and  children,  now  live  there  all  the 
year  round.  Within  the  past  thirty  years  almost  three  hun 
dred  million  dollars'  worth  of  gold  has  been  taken  out  of 
Alaska,  and  in  some  single  years  we  take  out  twenty  mil 
lions  and  more. 

During  our  travels  we  visit  Cape  Nome,  a  great  gold- 
mining  camp  on  the  shores  of  the  Seward  Peninsula  ;  and 
while  at  a  bank  ask  to  see  some  of  the  precious  metal  re 
cently  washed  from  the  sands.  The  cashier  points  to  a. 


MINING 


351 


canvas  bag  which  lies  on  the  floor  of  the  vault  and  asks  us 
to  lift  it.  It  cannot  hold  more  than  a  peck,  and  the  task 
seems  very  easy.  We  try  and  almost  break  our  backs  in 
the  attempt.  He  then  opens  it  and  shows  us  some 
nuggets,  one  of  which  is  worth  three  thousand  dollars,  and 
others,  each  worth  a  thousand  or  more.  The  little  lumps 
of  metal  have  dirt  clinging  to  them,  but  aside  from  that 
they  are  pure,  yellow  gold. 

Leaving  the  bank  we  visit  the  mines,  and  later  on  travel 
up  the  Yukon  and  go  to  other  parts  of  the  country  where 
they  are  washing  out  gold.  There  are  large  quartz  mines 

near     Juneau,      but     , 

much  of  the  gold 
is  washed  out  of 
the  earth  near  the 
streams.  Most  of 
such  work  must  be 
done  in  the  sum 
mer,  for  the  ground 
is  frozen  about  two 
thirds  of  the  year. 
In  the  winter  wood 
fires  and  steam  are 
used  to  thaw  the 
ground  down  to  that 
containing  the  gold  ; 
and  the  gold-bearing 
earth  is  carried  to 
the  streams  to  wait 
until  summer  comes 
to  give  water  with  which  to  wash  the  gold  out. 

The  quartz  mines  of  Alaska  will  some  day  produce  a  vast- 
deal  of  gold ;  and  the  country  has  mountains  which  con- 


Uniied  States  Wireless  Telegraph  Station,  Port  Safety, 
Alaska. 


352  BRITISH   AMERICA 

tain  copper  and  such  enormous  deposits  of  coal  that  it  is 
said  they  will  in  time  supply  a  large  part  of  the  fuel  used  in 
the  lands  which  border  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  territory  is 
being  rapidly  developed.  The  important  towns  are  already 
connected  by  telegraph  lines,  and  there  are  wireless  tele 
graph  stations  by  which  messages  are  sent  across  country. 
Several  railroads  are  building,  including  one  from  Seward 
to  Fairbanks  which  is  being  made  by  our  government. 

There  are  already  thriving  little  cities  and  towns,  such  as 
Nome,  Fairbanks,  Juneau,  and  others.  These  settlements 
are  lighted  by  electricity,  and  they  have  telegraphs  and 
telephones.  Many  of  them  have  daily  newspapers,  and  in 
all  are  excellent  schools.  In  the  northern  towns,  in  the 
summer,  the  children  dress  much  as  we  do;  but  in  the  long 
winters  they  are  clad  mostly  in  furs,  and  their  fur  coats 
have  fur  hoods  which  they  pull  over  their  heads  to  keep 
Jack  Frost  from  biting  their  ears. 


46.     BRITISH    AMERICA— TRAVELS    IN    THE 
FUR    LANDS 

THERE  are  several  ways  by  which  we  can  go  from 
Alaska  into  British  America.  We  might  sail  from 
Nome  back  to  Puget  Sound,  taking  eight  or  nine  days  to 
reach  Vancouver,  and  thence  go  across  the  southern  parts 
of  British  America  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  or  we 
might  go  to  Prince  Rupert,  which  is  the  terminus  of 
the  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Railway,  and  travel  through  the 
mountains  to  Edmonton  and  thence  on  to  the  east.  We 
prefer,  however,  to  continue  our  journey  in  the  north  lands  of 


THE   FORESTS  IN   NORTHERN   CANADA  353 

the  continent,  and  shall  sail  up  the  Yukon  into  the  Porcu 
pine  River,  and  thence  tramp  across  the  passes  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  Mackenzie  River.  (Map,  pp.  360-361.) 

The  steamers  on  the  Yukon  are  comfortable,  and  we 
enjoy  the  crisp  air  as  it  blows  down  the  stream.  After 
some  days  of  travel  we  leave  the  river  and,  loading  our 
camping  outfit  on  dog  sledges,  make  our  way  upon  foot. 
Now  we  stop  to  look  at  the  beaver  dams  upon  some  of  the 
streams,  now  to  hunt  deer  or  caribou,  and  again  to  fish  in 
the  brooks  for  supplies  for  our  outdoor  meals.  By  and 
by  we  reach  the  Mackenzie  and  travel  upon  it  down  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean.  Our  next  trip  is  back  up  the  stream, 
through  the  Great  Bear  and  Great  Slave  lakes,  and 
then  on  east  through  the  forests  to  Hudson  Bay.  Fi 
nally,  after  a  series  of  long  weary  journeys,  we  turn  back  to 
the  southward  into  the  more  settled  parts  of  the  Canadian 
Dominion. 

These  travels  are  interesting,  and  especially  in  the  far 
northern  parts  of  the  continent.  There  the  trees  are 
stunted  by  the  cold,  and  most  of  them  are  only  two  or  three 
feet  in  height.  We  find  them  taller  as  we  go  southward, 
and  at  last  we  reach  a  long  forest  belt  which  extends  from 
British  Columbia  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  We  remember 
the  great  firs  and  cedars  almost  as  tall  as  the  highest  church 
steeple  which  we  saw  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  as  we 
made  our  way  north  to  Alaska,  and  we  are  now  told  that 
this  forest  reaches  clear  across  the  continent  from  ocean  to 
ocean.  British  America  has  the  greater  part  of  the  trees 
now  left  on  our  Grand  Division,  and  from  Hudson  Bay  to 
the  head  of  Lake  Superior  is  one  continuous  forest. 

Most  of  the  northern  regions  belonging  to  the  British  are 
as  wild  as  they  were  when  our  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth 
and  began  to  cut  down  the  woods.  We  often  travel  for  days 


354  BRITISH   AMERICA 

without  seeing  a  white  human  being.  Now  and  then  we 
meet  an  Indian  and  again  some  Eskimos  in  furs.  There 
are,  in  all  British  America,  only  about  one  hundred  thousand 
Indians,  scattered  over  the  country  in  wandering  tribes. 
The  white  population,  including  the  cities,  is  by  no  means 


Trading  Post  —  Hudson  Bay  Company. 

large  in  comparison  with  ours,  and  here  in  the  Far  North 
there  are  few  whites  excepting  the  agents  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  and  other  fur  traders. 

These  traders  are  often  our  hosts  as  we  go  on  our  way. 
Each  has  a  little  store  filled  with  the  goods  which  the  In 
dians  like  and  for  which  they  exchange  the  furs  and  skins 
they  get  in  their  trapping  and  hunting.  Most  of  them  be 
long  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  which  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  has  controlled  the  fur  trade  of  British 
America.  This  company  has  grown  rich  by  trading  with 


THE   HUDSON   BAY   COMPANY  355 

the  trappers  and  Indians,  and  it  still  has  its  agents  scattered 
throughout  the  fur  countries. 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  organized  in  1670,  when 
King  Charles  II  gave  it  the  exclusive  right  to  trade  with 
the  Indians  in  the  Hudson  Bay  basin.  It  was  composed 
of  some  English  noblemen  and  others  who  put  their  money 
together  to  send  out  ships  and  men  to  collect  these  valu 
able  furs.  They  began  about  Hudson  Bay,  but  rapidly 
extended  their  business  until  they  controlled  the  whole  ter 
ritory  from  Labrador  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  from 
the  western  parts  of  the  United  States  to  Alaska  and  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  employing  hundreds  of  agents  and  traders, 
besides  many  Indians.  Of  late  years  they  have  given  over 
most  of  their  land  to  the  government,  which  has  sold  it  to 
the  settlers  for  farms.  They  are  still  trading  for  furs  in 
the  wilds. 

The  Canadian  Dominion  is  one  of  the  best  fur  lands  of 
the  world.  It  has  bears,  minks,  foxes,  wolves,  and  deer  in 
its  forests  and  beavers  and  otters  in  its  rivers  and  lakes. 
Millions  of  skins  are  yearly  bought  by  the  traders  and 
shipped  to  New  York  or  London,  where  they  are  prepared 
for  the  markets  of  the  world.  The  fur  trade  with  the  In 
dians  is  carried  on  by  barter  of  which  the  unit  of  account 
is  the  beaver.  One  beaver  pelt  is  worth  a  certain  number 
of  martens,  and  the  skin  of  a  silver  fox  is  worth  many 
beavers.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  sends  out  blankets, 
beads,  knives,  and  other  such  things  to  their  traders,  and 
the  Indians  know  just  how  much  they  should  get  for  each 
skin. 

The  agents  tell  us  that  they  are  often  a  year  without 
seeing  a  white  man.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  those 
near  the  coast  of  Hudson  Bay,  who  are  visited  by  ships 
from  Great  Britain  only  once  a  year.  The  ships  enter  the 


356 


BRITISH   AMERICA 


bay  in  July  bringing  supplies ;  and  they  leave  for  London 
about  the  middle  of  September  loaded  with  skins  and 
furs. 

In  our  long  northern  journey  we  find  no  lack  of  either 
game  or  fish,  and  we  live  on  what  we  shoot  on  the  way. 
Now  and  then  we  kill  caribou  or  small  deer,  and  sometimes 

lay  in  a  good  stock  of  meat 
by  shooting  a  moose. 

Moose  hunting  is  by  no 
means  child's  play.  Many 
of  the  male  deer  of  this 
species  are  eight  feet  high, 
and  their  enormous  antlers 
are  often  so  large  that  from 
tip  to  tip  they  measure  six 
feet.  The  best  time  to  hunt 
moose  is  in  the  winter.  Our 
Indian  guides  go  with  us 
and  show  us  a  moose  yard. 
This  is  a  spot  in  the  swamps 
where  the  moose  have  their  regular  feeding  grounds.  We 
follow  the  tracks  in  the  snow,  putting  on  snowshoes  in 
which  we  can  run  rapidly,  while  the  moose,  being  heavy, 
will  sink  down  through  the  crust  and  cannot  escape. 

Now  we  are  near  the  yard.  We  hide  behind  the  trees 
with  our  guns  at  our  shoulders.  The  Indian  guides 
call  the  moose  by  imitating  its  cry,  and  soon  a  great 
creature  is  seen  making  his  way  through  the  snow. 
He  is  suspicious  and  sniffs  the  air;  but  the  wind  is  blow 
ing  towards  us  and  he  cannot  scent  our  presence.  We  aim 
carefully,  and  bring  him  down  at  first  shot.  Had  we  not 
done  so  the  great  beast  might  have  turned  upon  us  and 
crushed  us  with  his  horns.  The  big  moose  is  a  fierce  fighter 


A  Moose. 


WILD    GAME  357 

when  wounded,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  best  to  have  a  re 
peating  rifle  in  hunting  such  game. 

In  the  western  parts  of  British  America  are  panthers, 
grizzly  bears,  and  moun 
tain  sheep.  The  griz 
zlies  stay  in  the  gloomiest 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
regions.  They  are  enor 
mous  beasts,  and  those 
who  hunt  them  take  their 
lives  in  their  hands. 
Mountain  sheep  are  found 
high  up  in  the  hills, 

above  where  the  grizzlies  live.     They  are  sure-footed,  jump 
ing  from  rock  to  rock;  and  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  kill. 

Canada  has  excellent  fishing.  Its  lakes  and  streams  are 
alive  with  fish,  and  we  catch  all  sorts  of  the  finny  tribes, 
from  the  sweet-fleshed  brook  trout  to  the  great  salmon 
which  weighs  as  much  as  a  good-sized  baby. 

Had  we  time  to  spend  a  summer  in  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
about  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie,  we  might  even  catch 
whales,  for  that  is  one  of  the  best  whaling  grounds  of  the 
world.  The  steam  whale  ships,  which  we  saw  at  the  San 
Francisco  docks,  go  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie,  and 
often  winter  there,  being  frozen  in  the  ice. 

In  former  times  whales  were  caught  chiefly  from  sailing 
vessels.  As  soon  as  the  seamen  got  near  enough  to  a 
whale,  they  threw  a  harpoon,  with  a  rope  attached.  The 
sharp,  arrowlike  head  of  the  harpoon  stuck  into  the  whale's 
flesh,  and  the  great  creature  struggled  about  until  it  was 
tired  out  and  could  be  killed.  It  was  cut  up  in  the  water, 
and  the  huge  pieces  of  blubber  were  raised  to  the  ship's 
deck,  to  be  made  into  oil. 


358 


BRITISH   AMERICA 


Now  much  whaling  is  done  by  little  steamers  which  carry 
cannon,  from  which  the  harpoons  are  shot  into  the  whales. 
To  the  harpoons  are  attached  ropes,  the  other  ends  of 
which  are  tied  to  the  ships,  and  it  is  not  a  hard  matter  to 
kill  a  whale  when  once  the  harpoon  is  in  him. 

Whales  are  also  caught  off  the  coast  of  Greenland  and 
in  Hudson  Bay  and  also  along  the  shores  of  Labrador  and 
and  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  They  are  valuable  for 
their  bones  as  well  as  for  oil.  The  whalebone  is  taken 
from  the  mouths  of  the  whales. 

You  have  heard  of  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  With 
the  exception  of  Alaska,  perhaps,  they  are  the  greatest 


Iceberg's. 

cod-fishing  grounds  that  have  ever  been  known.  Under 
the  sea  just  south  of  the  island  of  Newfoundland,  there  is 
a  plain  about  two  hundred  miles  long  and  seventy  miles 
wide,  where  codfish,  herring,  and  mackerel  come  by  the 


THE    CANADIAN  FISHERIES  359 

millions  to  feed.  These  fishes  are  fond  of  cold  water,  and 
the  Arctic  Current,  which  washes  the  coast,  of  Labrador, 
brings  down  a  slime  containing  sea  life,  which  forms  their 
favorite  food.  The  waters  there  are  covered  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  with  fogs.  Now  and  then  huge  icebergs 
float  through  them,  and  the  fishing  is  exceedingly  dan 
gerous. 

Still,  many  vessels  go  there,  and  more  codfish  are  caught 
on  the  Grand  Banks,  as  they  are  called,  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  world.  So  many  are  taken  that  if  the  dried 
codfish  exported  in  one  year  should  all  be  sent  to  the 
United  States,  there  would  be  more  than  enough  to  give 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  us  a  pound  and  a  half. 
Much  of  our  best  mackerel  comes  from  Canada;  and  an 
army  of  fishermen  is  engaged  in  catching  herring  in  nets, 
and  in  smoking,  pickling,  or  curing  them  in  other  ways. 


47.     BRITISH    AMERICA  — THE    SETTLED 
REGIONS 

THE  Dominion  of  Canada,  the  name  by  which  British 
America  is  generally  known,  comprises  all  the  territory 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Arctic  Ocean,  with  the 
exception  of  Alaska,  and  Labrador  and  the  Island  of  New 
foundland.  Newfoundland  belongs  to  Great  Britain,  and 
Labrador  is  dependent  upon  it ;  but  neither  is  directed  by 
the  Canadian  government. 

But  without  these  two  latter  countries,  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  is  one  of  the  largest  bodies  of  land  owned 
by  any  one  nation.  It  is  almost  as  big  as  Europe  and  is 


DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


40  s 


360 


362  BRITISH   AMERICA 

bigger  than  Australia,  or  the  main  body  of  the  United 
States  with  the  addition  of  Alaska.  It  has  provinces  and 
territories  of  enormous  extent.  The  two  territories  — 
Yukon  and  the  Northwest  Territories  —  lie  between  sixty 
degrees  north  latitude  and  the  Arctic  Circle,  including 
also  the  icy  islands  at  the  north.  Their  chief  inhabitants 
are  wild  animals.  These  territories  are  almost  half  as 
large  as  the  United  States  proper,  comprising  more  than 
one  third  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  Some  of  the  south 
ern  provinces  which  form  the  cultivated  portions  of  the 
country  are  also  enormous.  Quebec  is  ten  times  as  big  as 
Missouri,  Ontario  and  British  Columbia  are  each  ten  times 
the  size  of  Indiana,  while  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and 
Alberta  are  each  greater  than  France  or  Germany  in  size. 

This  vast  territory  is  rich,  although  its  people  altogether 
are  not  so  many  as  those  of  the  state  of  New  York.  Most 
of  its  inhabitants  live  in  the  southern  provinces  of  the 
Dominion  bordering  on  the  United  States.  These  prov 
inces  compare  favorably  in  climate  and  resources  with  our 
states  just  over  the  boundary.  They  have  large  cities, 
and  are  rapidly  growing  in  agriculture,  manufacture,  and 
commerce.  Many  railroads  are  building,  and  the  more 
settled  regions  are  connected  by  prosperous  trunk  lines, 
including  some  which  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  This  is  so  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  and 
it  will  soon  be  so  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  which  crosses 
the  country  some  distance  farther  north.  Another  exten 
sive  system  which  is  pushing  its  way  through  the  western 
part  of  the  country  is  the  Canadian  Northern. 

But  suppose  we  start  at  Victoria,  the  capital  of  British 
Columbia,  and  travel  on  eastward.  We  are  now  on  Van 
couver  Island,  on  a  fine  harbor  overlooking  the  Strait  of 
Juan  de  Fuca  (hoo-an'  da  foo'ka)  and  the  Gulf  of  Georgia, 


ESQUIMALT   AND   VANCOUVER 


363 


with  the  Pacific  Ocean  almost  at  our  feet.  Here  the 
people  are  chiefly  English-speaking  Canadians,  although 
there  are  many  Japanese  and  Chinese  who  have  stopped 
here  on  their  way  from  China  and  Japan  to  the  city  of 
Vancouver. 

Victoria  has  fine  stores  and  comfortable  homes.  We 
visit  the  public  buildings  which  overlook  the  harbor, 
and  then  go  out  on  the  electric  cars  to  Esquirnalt, 
one  of  the  British  naval 
stations  on  the  Pacific. 
Here  we  see  large  gun 
boats  at  anchor,  and  ex 
amine  the  dry  dock  where 
these  huge  vessels  are 
cleaned  of  the  barnacles 
that  fasten  themselves 
to  their  hulls.  A  man-of- 
war  lies  within  the  dock, 
and  we  watch  the  sailors 
scouring  and  scraping  it 
clean. 

At  Victoria  we  take 
passage  upon  a  little 
steamer  and  cross  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia  to  Van 
couver,  Canada's  prin 
cipal  port  on  the  Pacific.  A  ship  has  just  come  in  from 
Asia,  and  we  watch  the  men  unload  tea  and  silk  and  other 
goods  from  China  and  Japan  and  put  them  in  the  cars  upon 
the  railroad  which  is  to  carry  them  east. 

We  do  not  stay  long  in  Vancouver.     It  is  a  delightful 
little  city  situated  on  the  mainland  in  sight  of  the  great  white 
cone  of  Mount  Baker.     It  has  wide  streets,  beautiful  parks, 
CARP.  N.  A.  —  23 


Dry  Dock  —  Esquimau. 


364  BRITISH   AMERICA 

and  many  fine  buildings.  It  owes  its  growth  to  its  position 
on  this  excellent  harbor  at  the  end  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway.  There  are  trains  for  the  East  leaving  daily,  and 
we  might  take  a  through  passage  and  go  clear  across  the 
continent  in  the  same  car.  The  distance,  however,  is  over 
twenty-nine  hundred  miles,  and  we  conclude  to  buy  our 
tickets  from  place  to  place  and  stop  as  we  please. 

Our  first  travels  are  in  British  Columbia.  The  country 
along  the  track  is  well  wooded,  the  fir  trees  in  some  sec 
tions  rising  to  a  height  of  three  hundred  feet.  Shortly 
after  leaving  Vancouver,  we  skirt  the  Fraser  River,  whose 
sands  are  said  to  be  mixed  with  gold  dust,  and  then  go  on 
ward  and  upward  into  the  heart  of  the  Rockies. 

The  scenery  of  British  Columbia  is  grand.  We  ride  for 
miles  in  the  snow.  We  fly  past  glaciers  and  great  fields  of 
ice.  Now  we  are  down  in  the  valleys  with  pine  trees  on 
both  sides  of  the  train.  And  now  we  climb  the  mountains 
again.  At  last,  after  a  day  or  so  of  travel,  we  are  over  the 
range  and  descending  the  lower  slopes  of  the  mountains 
which  are  covered  with  green. 

We  stay  for  a  few  days  at  Calgary,  a  thriving  city  corre 
sponding  somewhat  to  Denver  as  to  its  situation  in  the  foot 
hills  of  the  Rockies.  It  lies  at  the  western  end  of  the 
prairies  and  owing  to  the  warm  winds  of  the  Pacific  which 
blow  over  the  mountains,  it  has  a  mild  and  healthful  climate, 
being  less  cold  in  the  winter  than  the  lands  farther  south. 
This  city  is  supported  largely  by  the  miners  and  farmers 
about.  Near  it  is  a  vast  tract  of  irrigated  country  which 
contains  thousands  of  small  farms  and  there  are  large 
grazing  ranches  near  by.  There  are  railroads  going  north 
ward  from  Calgary,  and  we  travel  northward  all  day  to 
Edmonton,  a  thriving  city,  passing  through  rich  farming 
lands  all  the  way.  We  learn  that  the  province  of  Alberta, 


THE   NORTHWEST   MOUNTED   POLICE 


365 


where  we  now  are,  as  well  as  Saskatchewan  and  Manitoba 
farther  east  have  some  of  the  best  wheat  soil  of  the 
world. 

For  a  long  time  western  Canada  was  thought  to  be  worth 
little,  but  a  few  years  ago  the  fertility  of  the  soil  was  dis 
covered  and  it  has  now  become  an  agricultural  empire  and 
one  of  the  bread  lands  of  the  world.  It  has  been  rapidly 
settled  and  is  already  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of 
British  America.  Railroads  have  been  built  in  every 
direction,  cities  and  towns  are  growing  up,  and  it  will  some 
day  have  a  large  population. 

Throughout  the  northern  part  of  the  wheat  belt  and  in 
deed  in  almost  all  sections  of  British  America,  we  find 
order  well  kept.  The  settled  portions  have  policemen  as 


The  Mounted  Police  ask  each  Farmer  if  all  is  right." 

we  have  at  home ;  and  on  the  frontier  and  in  the  wilds  are 
the  mounted  police  who  go  about  upon  horseback  asking 
each  farmer  and  trapper  if  all  is  right  in  his  neighborhood, 


366  BRITISH   AMERICA 

and  seeking  out  and  bringing  to  justice  those  who  do  wrong, 
These  men  are  fine  fellows  and  we  enjoy  chatting  with  such 
of  them  as  we  meet. 

Continuing  our  journey  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 
we  travel  through  many  fine  farms  and  cattle  ranches  as  we 
cross  the  province  of  Alberta  and  stay  awhile  at  Regina,  the 
capital  of  Saskatchewan.  There  are  huge  elevators  near  the 
railroad,  and  at  the  station  we  see  the  farmers  unloading 
wheat  into  the  cars. 

We  see  more  and  more  wheat  as  we  go  on  into  Manitoba, 
and  at  Winnipeg  stop  at  one  of  the  chief  grain  centers  of 
North  America.  Winnipeg  is  the  capital  of  Manitoba. 
This  province  contains  the  northern  part  of  our  Red  River 
Valley,  which  we  visited  after  the  trip  up  the  Mississippi 
River.  The  soil  of  the  valley  is  rich  and  it  yields  millions 
of  bushels  of  grain  every  year. 

Winnipeg  is  a  fast-growing  city  with  many  big  elevators 
and  flourishing  mills.  It  is  the  key  to  the  prairies  and  it  com 
mands  the  trade  of  the  regions  to  the  north  and  west.  All 
the  trunk  lines  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  pass  through 
it  and  railroads  are  now  planned  to  connect  it  with  Hudson 
Bay.  When  they  are  constructed,  ships  from  Europe  can 
come  through  Hudson  Strait  during  midsummer,  and  by 
crossing  Hudson  Bay  be  within  a  few  hundred  miles  by 
rail  of  the  wheat  belt.  When  that  is  done  this  city  will  be 
the  Chicago  of  Canada. 

Leaving  Winnipeg,  the  cars  take  us  to  Port  Arthur  and 
Fort  William  on  Lake  Superior  at  the  head  of  Canadian 
navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes.  This  is  a  thriving  milling 
and  manufacturing  center  with  so  many  elevators  that  it 
might  be  called  the  Minneapolis  of  British  America. 
We  spend  some  time  here  watching  them  loading  and 
unloading. 


WINNIPEG   TO    OTTAWA  367 

wheat.  We  go  through  the  huge  vessels  which  are  to  carry 
the  grain  down  to  the  seaboard,  and  are  told  that  most  of  it 
will  be  sent  across  the  Atlantic  to  Europe. 

We  might  get  a  boat  which  would  carry  us  on  through 
the  Lakes  by  way  of  the  Welland  Canal  to  Montreal;  but  we 
have  already  made  the  most  of  that  journey  in  an  American 
steamer  on  our  way  down  from  Duluth  to  Buffalo  and  we 
decide  to  take  the  train  instead.  Our  first  few  days  are 
through  a  wild  broken  region  during  which  we  cross  rapid 
rivers  and  skirt  numerous  lakes.  As  we  go  on  we  find 
more  and  more  woods,  and  we  realize  the  extent  of  the 
forests. of  Canada  when  we  are  told  that  the  belt  of  timber 
extends  several  hundred  miles  to  the  north.  We  stop  over 
for  a  day  at  Sudbury  to  see  the  great  nickel  mines  there,  and 
then  continue  our  travels  until  at  about  thirteen  hundred 
miles  from  Winnipeg  we  reach  the  city  of  Ottawa. 

Ottawa  is  the  capital  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  It  is 
a  beautiful  place  and  somewhat  similar  to  Washington, 
although  far  less  in  size.  Like  our  national  capital,  it  was 
cut  out  of  a  forest.  It  is  situated  on  a  high  bluff  at 
the  junction  of  the  Rideau  and  Ottawa  rivers,  and  as  we 
stroll  through  its  wide  streets  we  can  hear  the  murmur  of 
the  Chaudiere  Falls,  which  here  break  the  navigation  of  the 
Ottawa,  giving  water  power  for  numerous  sawmills  and 
factories  making  wood  pulp,  paper,  and  other  things. 

At  the  highest  part  of  the  city,  almost  overhanging  the 
river,  are  the  Parliament  Houses  where  the  laws  for  the 
Dominion  are  made,  and  near  them  the  department  build 
ings  where  the  cabinet  ministers  and  their  clerks  keep  the 
books  of  the  government. 

It  is  at  Ottawa  that  the  Governor-General  of  Canada 
lives.  He  is  appointed  by  the  king  of  England  and 
receives  a  salary  of  about  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year. 


368 


BRITISH  AMERICA 


He  has  a  number  of  advisers  or  cabinet  ministers  much  as 
our  President  has ;  and  it  is  his  business  to  carry  out  the 
laws  of  Canada  as  enacted  by  the  Parliament  of  the  Dominion. 
He  is  expected  to  do  just  as  Parliament  says ;  so  that,  al 
though  the  country  is  nominally  ruled  by  him  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  king,  it  is  really  governed  by  the  people 
themselves  through  their  representatives  here.  The  upper 
house  of  Parliament  is  called  the  Senate,  but  it  differs  from 


Parliament  Buildings  —  Ottawa. 

our  Senate  in  many  respects.  The  Canadian  senators  are 
chosen  for  life,  ours  for  six  years.  Each  province  of  Can 
ada  has  the  right  to  a  certain  number  of  senators,  but  the 
men  are  selected  by  the  Governor-General  instead  of  being 
chosen  by  the  people,  as  with  us. 

The  House  of  Commons  is  somewhat  like  our  House  of 
Representatives.  Its  members  are  elected  by  the  people. 
Each  representative  receives  twenty-five  hundred  dollars 


TORONTO   AND    MONTREAL  369 

a  session;  and  if  he  be  absent  he  is  fined  fifteen  dollars  a 
day  for  the  time  he  is  away,  unless  his  absence  is  caused  by 
illness.  Parliament  fixes  the  taxes  of  Canada,  and  directs 
how  the  money  received  from  taxes  is  to  be  spent.  It  is 
all  used  in  Canada,  and  is  not  sent  to  Great  Britain  as  was 
the  case  with  the  taxes  paid  by  the  American  colonies 
before  the  Revolution. 

Each  of  the  provinces  of  Canada  has  a  government 
somewhat  like  that  of  our  states,  but  Parliament  deals  with 
the  whole  of  the  Dominion  and  not  with  any  special  prov 
ince. 

The  two  largest  cities  of  Canada  are  Montreal  and  To 
ronto.  Toronto  is  situated  on  Lake  Ontario  with  a  magnifi 
cent  harbor.  It  is  a  beautiful  city  noted  for  its  fine  build 
ings  and  comfortable  homes  and  also  its  universities  and 
schools,  as  well  as  for  its  extensive  trade  and  large  manu 
facturing  establishments. 

Montreal  is  the  New  York  of  Canada,  the  chief 
commercial  city  and  also  the  chief  seaport.  It  is  situated 
on  an  island  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Ottawa  and  St. 
Lawrence,  and  we  can  reach  it  by  a  sail  down  the  Ottawa 
in  the  steamers  which  in  the  summer  go  every  day  from 
one  city  to  the  other.  The  journey  can  be  made  in  three 
hours  by  rail. 

Although  the  city  is  five  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  large  ocean  liners  ascend  to  it.  The 
Lachine  rapids  prevent  their  passage  farther  up  the  river. 

Landing  in  Montreal,  our  first  stroll  is  along  the 
wharves  which  line  the  St.  Lawrence  for  more  than  a  mile. 
Ocean  steamers  are  going  out  and  coming  in,  and  we  see 
immense  cargoes  of  grain,  which  have  been  brought  down 
the  Great  Lakes  through  the  Welland  Canal,  being  loaded 
for  Europe.  Formerly  the  ocean  steamers  which  came  to 


3/0  BRITISH   AMERICA 

Canada  stopped  at  Quebec,  because  the  river  channel  west  of 
that  city  was  only  eleven  feet  deep  ;  but  in  1851  the  people 
began  to  dredge  out  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  now  over 


Wharves  at  Montreal. 

twenty-seven  feet  deep,  and  the  large  vessels  from  Europe 
sail  right  up  to  Montreal.  By  this  means  it  is  several  hun 
dred  miles  nearer  Liverpool  by  sea  than  is  New  York,  and 
hence  has  a  large  trade. 

Leaving  the  river  we  now  go  to  the  top  of  Mount  Royal 
for  a  look  at  the  city.  This  hill  is  just  behind  Montreal. 
It  is  about  three  hundred  feet  high  and  is  reached  by  an  in 
clined  railway  much  like  that  on  which  we  went  up  Mount 
Washington.  The  view  is  magnificent.  At  the  southeast 
and  southwest  we  can  see  our  own  green  Adirondacks  with 
their  peaks  kissing  the  sky.  Below  us  lies  Montreal  with 
its  wide  streets  bordered  by  trees,  its  mighty  churches,  and 
its  many  factories  and  enormous  grain  elevators.  The  wide, 


MONTREAL 


371 


silvery  St.  Lawrence  flows  far  below  us,  and  right  in  front 
is  the  Victoria  Jubilee  Bridge  belonging  to  the  Grand  Trunk 


"The  Hill  is  reached  by  an  Inclined  Railway." 

Railway.  It  is  an  open-work  steel  bridge,  built  in  1 898,  with 
double  tracks,  carriageways,  and  foot  walks  for  pedestrians, 
and  rests  on  the  piers  which  held  the  famous  Victoria 


372 


BRITISH    AMERICA 


Victoria  Jubilee  Bridge. 

wrought- iron  tubular  bridge  which  was  built  in  1859.  The 
piers  are  stone  pillars,  the  upper  sides  of  which  extend  out 
into  the  river  in  the  shape  of  great  plowshares.  That  is  to 
cut  the  ice  as  it  rushes  against  them  in  the  spring. 

The  St.  Lawrence  is  frozen  during  most  of  the  winter. 
The  snow  falls  heavily  in  Canada,  and  in  some  years 
Montreal  has  a  winter  festival,  during  which  the  people 
build  a  huge  palace  of  ice  blocks  which  strangers  come 
thousands  of  miles  to  see. 

In  Canada  winter  is  the  jolliest  time  of  the  year.  The 
snow  lies  upon  the  ground  for  months.  There  are  skating, 
snowshoeing,  and  tobogganing.  Every  city  has  its  skating 
rink,  many  of  which  are  lighted  by  electricity.  Every  town 
has  its  snowshoe  club,  each  of  which  has  its  own  uniform, 
consisting  of  a  bright-colored  blanket  coat,  and  a  hood  or 
cowl  fastened  to  the  neck  that  it  may  be  drawn  up  over  the 
head.  The  clubs  run  over  the  snow,  playing  games  in  the 
moonlight.  As  they  play  they  sing,  and  the  sight  is  a 
strange  one. 

Tobogganing  is  enjoyed  by  men,  women,  and  children. 
A  toboggan  is  a  thin  piece  of  board  about  eighteen  inches 
wide  and  from  four  to  eight  feet  in  length.  The  board  has 


QUEBEC 


373. 


a  very  smooth  bottom  and  is  turned  up  at  the  front  end. 
When  placed  on  the  edge  of  a  hill,  with  one  or  more  pas 
sengers  seated  upon  it,  it  will  rush  over  the  glassy  snow 
with  the  speed  of  an  express  train.  The  steersman  always 
sits  in  the  rear.  It  is  his  business  to  direct  the  course  of 
the  board  with  his 
hands  and  feet.  He 
sometimes  makes  a 
mistake,  and  turns 
himself  and  the  others 
in  front  of  him  upside 
down  in  the  snow. 

In  our  travels 
through  eastern  Can 
ada,  we  are  surprised 
to  find  that  so  many 
of  the  people  are 
French.  In  the  prov 
ince  and  city  of  Que 
bec  there  are  more 
French  than  English, 
and  in  all  Canada  a  Tobogganing. 

large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  are  of  French  descent. 
We  hear  little  else  than  French  spoken  on  the  streets  of 
Montreal,  and  going  to  the  government  offices  find  that 
all  official  notices  are  printed  in  both  French  and  English. 
The  signs  over  the  stores  are  in  the  two  languages,  and 
there  are  daily  and  weekly  newspapers  printed  in  French. 
The  markets  are  supplied  with  vegetables  by  French- 
Canadian  farmers,  with  whom  we  talk  in  the  French  lan 
guage. 

For  a  long  time  the  eastern  part  of  Canada  was  a  posses 
sion  of  France.     Then  a  great  war  was  fought  between 


374 


BRITISH   AMERICA 


the  French  and  the  British,  and  in  1759  the  British  soldiers 
under  General  Wolfe  climbed  to  .the  heights  upon  which 
the. city  of  Quebec  is  built  and  captured  it.  They  conquered 
the  country,  and  in  1774  Canada  was  formally  annexed  to 
the  British  Empire.  It  is  still  a  dependency  of  Great 


The  Citadel,   Quebec. 

Britain,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  its  people  practically 
govern  themselves. 

We  are  interested  in  the  stories  we  hear  of  the  fight  at 
Quebec,  and  steam  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  have  a  look 
at  the  city.  The  town  stands  upon  a  rocky  bluff  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  river,  and  is  so  well  fortified  that 
it  has  been  called  the  American  Gibraltar.  It  has  cannon 


QUEBEC 


upon  the  rocks  near  the  city,  and  there  are  forts  on  the 
heights  of  the  opposite  bank  so  that  it  would  be  dangerous 
for  a  foreign  battleship  to  try  to  pass  through  and  go  up 
the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  place  where  the  battle  between  the  French  and 
English  occurred  was  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  just  back  of 
the  city.  As  we  go  over  it  our  guides  tell  us  that  both  of 
the  commanding  generals  were  killed  during  the  engage 
ment.  General  Wolfe,  the  head  of  the  British  forces,  fell 
dead  on  the  field,  having  been  shot  three  times,  the  last 
ball  piercing  his  heart.  General  Montcalm,  the  leader  of 
the  French,  was  first  struck  by  a  musket  bullet  and  then 
by  a  discharge  from  the  only  cannon  possessed  by  the 
British.  Mortally  wounded,  he  was  carried  into  Quebec, 
and  at  five  o'clock  the  next  morning  he  died.  All  this 
happened  on  September  13,  1759.  Soon  afterwards  the 
French  rule  in  North  America  came  to  an  end. 

Quebec  is  more  like  an  old  French  town  than  a  modern 
American  one.  It 
has  many  narrow 
streets  which  climb 
their  winding  \vays 
up  hill  and  down. 
The  people  are  quiet, 
and  as  we  go  through 
the  town  we  can 
hardly  believe  that 
it  belongs  to  our  hustling,  bustling  North  America.  One 
of  the  modes  of  conveyance  is  by  the  calash,  a  two- 
wheeled,  one-horse  vehicle,  the  bed  of  which  rests  upon 
springs  on  the  shafts. 

We  take  a  calash  and  ride  through  the  lower  town,  visit 
ing  the  French  market,  and  then  climb  the  hills  to  have  a 


A  Calash. 


376  MEXICO 

look  at  the  public  buildings,  convents,  and  churches.  We 
stroll  upon  Dufferin  Terrace,  a  grand  promenade  running 
along  the  edge  of  the  cliffs  more  than  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  then  go  to  the  citadel  to  look 
at  the  great  fortifications  and  watch  the  drill  of  the  soldiers. 
Our  next  trip  extends  still  farther  eastward.  We  take 
the  railroad,  and  soon  find  ourselves  in  Halifax,  the  capital 
of  Nova  Scotia,  where  there  are  other  fortifications  and  a 
naval  station  manned  by  Canadians.  We  enjoy  the  city 
and  its  odd  sights.  The  air  is  pure  and  the  fresh  breezes 
of  the  Atlantic,  flavored  with  salt,  make  us  desire  to  be  at 
sea  again.  There  are  steamers  at  the  wharves,  and  we 
have  no  trouble  in  finding  one  to  carry  us  southward,  to 
Boston.  From  there  we  go  again  to  New  York  and  take 
passage  upon  a  ship  for  Vera  Cruz,  the  chief  seaport  of 
Mexico. 

48.     SPANISH    NORTH    AMERICA  — MEXICO 

MEXICO  is  within  a  few  days'  ride  of  any  part  of  the 
United  States,  but  the  two  countries  differ  so  that, 
as  we  land  in  Vera  Cruz,  we  seem  to  be  in  another  world. 
The  faces  of  the  people  are  darker  than  ours.  They  speak 
Spanish,  and  we  must  have  a  guide  who  understands  Eng 
lish  to  take  us  about.  Some  of  the  men  wear  hats  with 
brims  a  foot  wide,  and  bands  of  silver  and  gold  as  thick  as 
your  wrist.  Not  a  few  have  on  jackets,  or  short  coats,  em 
broidered  with  silver,  trousers  ornamented  with  silver 
buttons,  and  leather  belts  from  which  silver-mounted  re 
volvers  hang.  The  ladies  we  see  on  the  streets  are  clad 
all  in  black  ;  and  some  have  lace  shawls  over  their  heads, 
like  those  worn  by  the  women  of  Spain. 


THE   MEXICAN   PEOPLE 


377 


The  poorer  people  have  features  somewhat  like  those  of 
our  Indians ;  but  they  are  shorter  in  stature,  and  do  not 
look  so  strong.  They  are  dressed  in  cotton.  The  men  wear 
big  hats,  and  not  a  few  havered  blankets  which  they  drape 
picturesquely  about  their  shoulders. 
The  women  wear  cotton  dresses,  and 
have  shawls  on  their  heads  in  place 
of  hats  or  bonnets. 

What  queer  houses  we  see  in  the 
towns  !  Their  roofs  are  flat,  and  there 
are  very  few  chimneys.  The  people 
use  charcoal  for  cooking,  and  here  at 
Vera  Cruz  it  is  so  hot  that  one  does 
not  need  a  fire  to  keep  warm.  How  f~ 
gay  the  walls  look !  They  are  painted 
a  bright  red,  yellow,  or  blue.  They 
extend  to  the  edges  of  the  sidewalks, 
and  the  ground-floor  windows  have 
iron  bars  like  a  prison. 

How  beautiful  the  flowers  and  trees 
are !  We  are  now  in  the  tropics.  There  is  a  tall  coconut 
palm,  and  that  long-leaved  plant  beside  it  is  loaded  down 
with  bananas. 

Mexico  is  a  part  of  Spanish  North  America.  For  cen 
turies  all  the  country  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  belonged  to  Spain.  The  Spaniards 
came  over  the  Atlantic  and  conquered  the  Indians,  and 
divided  up  their  lands  among  themselves.  Some  of  them 
married  Indian  women,  and  to-day  Spanish  North  America 
is  inhabited  by  the  descendants  of  the  Spaniards,  by  those 
of  the  Spaniards  who  married  the  Indians,  and  by  those  of 
the  Indians  who  lived  here  at  the  time  Columbus  discovered 
America.  The  different  countries,  however,  long  ago  re- 


A  Mexican. 


378 


MEXICO 


belled   against  Spain  ;  and  they  are  now  independent,  and 
have  their  own  governments. 

The  Republic  of  Mexico  is  almost  one  fifth  as  large  as 
our  country,  including  Alaska.  Take  your  map  of  North 
America,  and  observe  the  shape  of  Mexico.  Does  it 


Straw  Cottages  —  Mexico. 

not  look  much  like  a  great  horn,  the  roots  of  which  are 
fastened  to  the  United  States,  with  the  tip  ending  in  Yuca 
tan,  on  the  coast  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  ? 

Mexico  is  like  a  horn  also,  in  that  it  slopes  very  steeply 
upward  from  the  sea  on  both  sides,  its  top  forming  a  high, 
irregular  plateau,  which  in  most  places  is  more  than  a  mile 
above  the  surface  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
It  is  on  the  inner  curve  of  the  horn  that  we  land  at  Vera 
Cruz. 

A  country  so  shaped  must  have  many  climates.  We  real 
ize  this  as  our  cars  climb  up  the  railroad  from  the  coast  to 
the  plateau.  Along  the  coast  it  is  exceedingly  hot  and 


379 


38o 


MEXICO 


unhealthful  during  a  great  part  of  the  year,  and  especially  in 
the  rainy  season,  when  the  water  falls  in  torrents.  We  ride 
for  miles  through  groves  of  palm  trees,  in  the  tops  of  which 
bunches  of  coconuts  hang.  We  pass  thickets  of  bamboo 
canes,  whose  feathery  branches  extend  high  above  the 
roofs  of  the  cars.  Here  are  mahogany  trees  and  ebony 
trees  ;  and  there  are  vines  bearing  vanilla  beans,  from  which 
comes  the  extract  we  use  in  flavoring  ice  cream,  soda  water, 
and  cake. 

The  forests  are  full  of  curious  flowers ;  hundreds  of  air- 
plants  hang  to  the  branches ;  and  there  are  so  many  choice 
orchids  that  we  could  have  a  carload  for  the  picking. 
Birds  of  bright  colors  fly  about  through  the  trees,  and 
mocking  birds  whistle  at  us  as  we  go  by. 

We  soon  reach  the  hills,  and  begin  to  go  upward.  The 
ascent  is  so  steep  that  a  double  engine  is  used.  In  one 

place  we  rise  a  thousand 
feet  in  twenty  miles,  and 
in  another  four  thousand 
feet  in  twenty-nine  miles. 
The  engine  puffs  and 
groans  as  it  pulls  us  about 
the  sides  of  the  mountains. 
It  drags  us  through  tun 
nel  after  tunnel,  hauling 
us  over  bridges,  now  twisting  this  way  and  now  winding 
that,  until  at  last,  after  having  elevated  us  more  than  a  mile 
and  a  half  above  the  sea,  it  lands  us  at  Esperanza.  We 
are  now  far  above  the  sea  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
plateau  which  forms  the  greater  part  of  Mexico. 

In  our  trip  upward  we  have  gone  through  a  half-dozen 
different  climates.  We  first  rode  through  groves  of  orange 
and  lemon  trees.  We  passed  by  fields  of  pineapples,  the 


A  Double  Engine. 


THE   MEXICAN   PLATEAU 


38' 


red  bodies  of  which  shone  out  below  the  green  leaves 
against  the  dark  earth.  Pineapples  grow  in  the  ground 
much  like  cabbages,  and  those  that  the  Indian  women  bring 
to  the  cars,  fresh  and  ripe  from  the  fields,  are  far  more  de 
licious  than  any  sold  in  our  markets.  They  are  so  soft  we 
eat  them  with  spoons. 

A  little  farther  on  we  passed  through  what  at  first  seemed 
to  be  banana  plantations.  The  fields  were  filled  with  the 
tall,  wide-leaved  banana  plants,  but  between  them  were 
bushes  covered  with  dark-green  leaves  and  bright  red  ber 
ries,  each  about  as  big  around  as  a  small  chestnut.  We 
saw  Indians  picking  these  berries,  and  were  told  that  they 
were  gathering  coffee,  and  that  each  of  the  berries  contained 
two  of  the  seeds  which  form  the  coffee  of  commerce. 

When  we  ask  as  to  the  bananas,  we  learn  that  they  are 


Drying  Coffee. 

planted  to  shade  the  coffee  bushes,  and  that  the  coffee  is 
by  far  the  more  valuable  product.  Coffee  plants  are  first 
grown  from  the  seed  in  nurseries.  They  are  then  set  out 
in  the  field  and  are  cultivated.  They  produce  at  the  age 

CARP.  N.  A.  —  24 


382  MEXICO 

of  four  or  five  years,  and  continue  to  yield  for  about  twenty 
years,  each  bush  giving  from  one  to  five  pounds  of  coffee 
a  year.  After  the  berries  are  gathered,  they  are  crushed 
to  get  off  the  hulls,  and  the  seeds  are  then  dried  and  cleaned 
for  the  market.  Some  of  the  best  coffee  of  the  world  is 
raised  in  Mexico,  and  there  are  large  plantations  in  those 
parts  of  the  country  lying  between  the  plateau  and  the  sea. 

Higher  up  on  the  plateau  itself  the  climate  is  too  cool 
to  produce  tropical  fruits.  The  region  is  a  temperate  one, 
and  exceedingly  healthful,  the  weather  the  year  round  be 
ing  much  like  that  of  our  country  in  June. 

Along  the  borders  of  this  great  tableland  the  peaks  of 
the  mountains  are  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  The  air 
is  so  pure  that  we  can  see  many  miles.  The  sky  seems 
closer  to  the  earth  than  at  home,  and  at  night  the  moon 
shines  with  a  greater  brilliancy,  and  the  stars  are  more 
than  ever  like  diamonds. 

It  is  on  the  Mexican  plateau  that  most  of  the  people 
live.  There  are  many  large  cities,  some  of  which  are 
more  than  a  mile  above  the  sea.  In  the  northern  part  of 
the  plateau  are  deserts  like  those  we  saw  among  the 
Rockies  on  our  way  to  San  Franciso.  Here  the  only 
plants  which  grow  are  the  cactus  and  sagebrush.  The 
ground  is  white  and  glaring,  and  as  we  ride  through  on 
the  railroads,  our  eyes  grow  sore  and  our  nostrils  are  filled 
with  a  suffocating  dust. 

The  surface  of  the  plateau  is  rolling.  Out  of  it  rise 
many  mountains  containing  gold  and  silver.  It  has  rich 
valleys  and  well-watered  plains,  which  are  divided  up  into 
enormous  farms  called  haciendas. 

What  would  you  think  of  traveling  for  eighty  miles  on 
a  railroad  through  one  single  farm  ?  There  are  haciendas 
even  larger  than  that  in  Mexico,  upon  which  great  herds 


THE   CACTI 


383 


of  cattle,  droves  of  horses,  and  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats 
are  pastured.  There  are  plantations  farther  south  produc 
ing  vast  crops  of  tobacco  and  cotton ;  and  wheat,  corn,  and 
barley  can  be  raised  almost  anywhere  upon  the  watered 
parts  of  the  tableland. 

There  are  few  countries  where  crops  grow  more  luxuri 
antly.  The  farmers  use  the  poorest  of  tools,  many  of  the 
plows  being  forked  sticks  shod  with  iron,  which  merely 
scratch  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Still,  the  soil  is  so  rich 
that  it  will  often  produce  two  crops  a  year.  I  have  seen  men 
harvesting  in  one  field  while  the  same  kind  of  crop  was 
being  planted  in  the  field  adjoining.  We  can  pick  roses 
almost  anywhere  in  Mexico  from  January  to  December ; 
and  should  we  ride  north 
ward  from  Mexico  city, 
we  might  pass  through 
places  where  straw 
berries  ripen  all  the  year 
round. 

We  see  many  curi 
ous  plants.  The  cactus 
grows  everywhere  upon 
the  highlands.  There  are 
several  species  of  cacti 
in  Mexico,  some  of  which 
are  very  valuable.  You 
may  have  seen  century 
plants  in  your  hothouses 
at  home.  There  is  one 

species  of  this  plant  family  which  grows  best  in  Yucatan. 
It  is  henequen,  or  Sisal  hemp,  and  is  of  great  value  on  ac 
count  of  the  long  threads  or  fibers  of  which  its  leaves  are 
composed.  These  fibers,  when  properly  treated,  can  be 


384  MEXICO 

used  for  making  bagging  and  ropes,  and  many  of  the 
hammocks  we  use  are  woven  from  them  by  the  native 
Yucatan  women. 

There  is  another  cactus  which  grows  near  Mexico  city, 
the  juice  of  which,  if  kept  a  few  clays,  turns  into  a  beer 
of  which  the  natives  are  fond.  This  is  the  maguey  plant. 
We  pass  through  vast  plantations  of  it  on  our  way  to  the 
Mexican  capital.  The  full-grown  plants  are  so  big  that 
the  smallest  of  them  could  not  be  crowded  into  a  hogshead. 
The  maguey  has  leaves  from  six  to  eight  inches  thick, 
which  sprout  up  from  the  ground  to  the  height  of  ten  or 
twelve  feet.  Inside  the  leaves  is  a  green  cone  as  big 
around  as  a  peck  measure ;  and  when  the  plant  is  ripe,  a 
part  of  this  cone  is  cut  out,  leaving  a  hole  the  size  of  a 
two-gallon  bowl. 

Into  this  queer  bowl  the  sap  runs  down  from  the  leaves 
in  streams,  each  plant  producing  two,  three,  or  four  gallons 
of  juice  every  day.  This  yield  will  continue  for  months, 
so  that  a  single  plant  may  produce  several  barrels  of  the 
liquor.  At  first  the  juice  is  quite  sweet  and  milky  in  color. 
It  begins  to  ferment  in  a  very  few  hours,  and  within  a  day 
has  turned  to  a  beer  and  will  make  one  drunk  if  he  takes 
too  much  of  it. 


49.     TRAVELS    IN    MEXICO 

THIS  morning  we  start  out  to  explore  the  Mexican 
capital.  We  are  in  a  magnificent  city  of  more  than 
a  half  million  people.  The  streets  are  wide,  and  are  paved 
with  asphalt.  They  are  thronged  with  automobiles,  motor 
cars,  and  carriages.  They  are  lighted  by  electricity,  and 
there  are  so  many  street  car  lines  that  if  joined  end  to  end 
they  would  reach  from  New  York  to  Boston.  The  stores 


THE  CAPITAL  CITY 


385 


have  plate  glass  windows  and  are  full  of  fine  goods.  Some 
of  the  public  buildings  remind  us  of  Washington,  and  the 
great  cathedral  which  stands  in  the  center  is  the  largest 
church  in  all  North  America. 

Mexico  is  an  historic  city.  Where  it  now  stands  was  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  Montezumas,  built  long  before  Co 
lumbus  discovered  America.  When  taken  by  the  Span 
iards,  A.D.  1531,  it  had  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
houses,  being  almost  as  large  as  the  Mexican  capital,  which 
covers  twenty  square  miles. 

The  best  place  to  see  the  city  is  from  one  of  the  great 


The  Cathedral  —  City  of  Mexico. 

towers  of  the  cathedral.  These  are  almost  half  as  high 
as  the  Washington  Monument,  and  as  we  stand  upon 
them  we  have  before  us  one  of  the  finest  views  of  our 
hemisphere.  The  Mexican  capital  lies  in  a  beautiful 


386 


MEXICO 


valley  surrounded  by  mountains.  Off  in  the  distance,  the 
two  great  volcanoes  of  Popocatepetl  and  Iztaccihuatl  look 
down  upon  us  out  of  their  caps  of  perpetual  snow ;  and 
the  green  fields  of  the  valley  are  spotted  here  and  there 
with  lakes  which  shine  like  great  shields  of  diamonds 
under  the  bright  rays  of  the  southern  sun. 

The  city  below  looks  like  a  checkerboard.     It  is  divided 
into  blocks  of   houses   roofed  with  brick,  and   the   wide 


General  View  of  the  City  of  Mexico. 

streets  which  bound  the  squares  are  often  of  asphalt.  We 
see  that  the  roofs  are  flat.  There  is  not  a  bit  of  smoke 
rising  from  any  of  the  houses.  There  are  no  chimneys  to 
speak  of,  for  the  fuel  is  charcoal,  which  makes  no  smoke ; 
and  the  cooking  is  done  in  little  clay  ovens.  There  are 
but  few  furnaces,  and  iron  cooking  stoves  are  almost 
unknown. 

On  the  tops  of  many  of  the  houses  we  see  white  and 
gay-colored  patches   floating    to    and    fro    in   the    breeze. 


V 

THE   CAPITAL   CITY  387 

They  are  the  family  washings,  which  are  often  dried  upon 
the  roofs.  Farther  out  upon  the  edges  of  the  canals,  at 
the  outskirts  of  the  city,  are  other  patches  of  white.  They 
belong  to  the  laundresses.  Much  of  the  washing  of  Mex 
ico  is  done  in  the  streams,  most  of  the  clothes  being 
washed  in  cold  water. 

Observe  how  the  houses  are  built.  Few  of  them  are 
more  than  three  stories  in  height.  They  stand  close  to 
the  sidewalks,  around  little  courts  which  form  yards  or 
gardens.  Every  large  Mexican  house  has  a  court  of  this 
kind,  and  there  are  often  flowers  and  trees  growing  in  it. 

Just  below  us,  in  front  of  the  cathedral,  is  a  big 
square,  called  the  plaza,  where  the  band  plays  every  even 
ing,  and  the  people  come  to  walk  about  under  the  trees. 
Such  plazas  are  to  be  found  in  every  city.  The  Mexicans 
are  fond  of  music,  and  they  spend  much  time  out  of  doors. 
That  long  three-story  building  at  the  side  of  the  plaza  just 
below  us  is  the  National  Palace,  where  the  Congress  of 
Mexico  sits,  and  where  the  officers  of  the  government 
work.  Mexico  is  a  republic  much  like  our  own.  It  has 
twenty-seven  states,  three  territories,  and  a  federal  district. 
It  is  in  that  building  that  the  President  has  his  offices; 
and  about  him,  in  other  rooms,  are  those  of  his  cabinet 
ministers. 

But  let  us  go  down  from  the  cathedral  and  take  a  walk 
through  the  city.  We  find  the  streets  almost  deserted.  It 
is  now  high  noon,  and  the  Mexicans  close  their  stores  at 
twelve  o'clock,  and  rest  during  the  hot  hours  of  the  day. 
They  have  their  dinners  between  twelve  and  one,  after 
which  they  take  a  nap  or  chat  with  their  families  until 
three,  when  they  come  back  to  work.  The  business  hours 
are  from  nine  to  twelve  in  the  morning,  and  from  three  to 
six  in  the  afternoon. 


388 


MEXICO 


By  seven  o'clock  most  of  the  establishments  are  closed, 
and  the  evening  is  given  up  to  rest  or  to  pleasure.  After 
seven  the  poorer  people  go  out  to  walk  in  the  parks,  and 
the  richer  drive  out  in  their  carriages  upon  the  Paseo,  or 
wide  road  which  runs  between  the  city  and  Chapultepec, 
the  great  hill  on  which  is  the  summer  home  of  the  President. 


Chapultepec. 

We  are  surprised  to  see  how  many  poor  Mexico  has. 
There  are  thousands  of  men  who  work  for  but  a  few  cents 
a  day,  and  families  are  supported  on  less  than  two  dol 
lars  a  week.  The  Spaniards  and  the  mestizos,  or  the  de 
scendants  of  Spaniards  and  Indians,  own  the  greater  part 
of  the  wealth.  The  Indians  and  the  poorer  mestizos  form 
the  laboring  class.  Many  go  in  debt  to  their  employers, 
and  work  on  from  year  to  year,  taking  only  a  part  of  their 
wages,  and  allowing  the  remainder  to  go  towards  the  pay 
ment  of  that  which  they  owe.  They  borrow  more  from  time 
to  time,  and  thus  keep  themselves  all  their  lives  in  a  sort  of 


THE   PEONS  389 

debt  slavery.     Such  slaves  are  known  as  peons,  a  name 
which  is  often  used  for  the  poorer  classes  of  Mexico. 

We  see  many  peons  in  Mexico  city.  The  men  dress  in 
white  cotton  shirts  and  trousers,  with  their  shirts  outside  of 
the  trousers.  They  do  not  wear  stockings.  Their  feet  are 
shod  with  sandals  of  thick  leather,  and  they  have  on  broad- 


Hut  of  a  Peon. 

brimmed  hats  with  crowns  a  foot  high.  Most  of  them  have 
a  red  blanket  which  they  throw  about  their  shoulders.  The 
peon  woman  is  usually  barefooted  and  bareheaded.  Her 
dress  is  of  cotton.  She  wears  also  a  shawl,  which  she 
drapes  around  her  shoulders  and  sometimes  draws  over 
her  head. 

We  see  many  peons  in  the  market.  They  bring  in  vege 
tables,  eggs,  and  other  things  on  their  backs  from  their  little 
farms  miles  away.  They  sit  down  on  the  ground  under 
umbrellas,  with  their  wares  piled  before  them. 

Indian  corn  is  the  chief  food  of  the  Mexicans.     Most 


390 


MEXICO 


of  the  people  here  do  not  know  what  bread  is,  and  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  have  never  tasted  wheat  flour.  Many 
of  them  have  never  eaten  meal  ground  in  a  mill  run  by 
machinery.  The  women  are  their  own  millers.  Outside 
of  the  huts  we  can  see  them  grinding  the  corn.  They 
grind  at  one  time  only  enough  for  a  meal.  The  mill  is  two 


Making  Tortillas. 

stones;  one  of  which  is  round  like  a  rolling  pin,  and  the 
other  a  rough  slab  about  a  foot  wide  and  eighteen  inches  in 
length.  Before  grinding,  the  grains  of  corn  are  soaked  in 
limewater  until  they  are  soft.  They  are  then  laid  upon  the 
slab,  and  the  woman,  kneeling  down,  rolls  the  round  stone 
over  them,  mashing  them  into  a  paste  or  dough.  She 
forms  this  into  a  thick  cake  with  her  hand,  and  then  lays 
it  upon  her  fire  of  blazing  charcoal.  It  cooks  rapidly,  and 
within  a  short  time  is  ready  for  eating.  Cakes  so  made 
are  called  tortillas  (tor-te'-lyas).  The  peons  eat  them  with 
out  butter,  although  they  are  sometimes  seasoned  with  a 
dash  of  salt  or  red  pepper.  We  taste  them  ourselves, 
and  find  them  not  at  all  bad. 


THE   MOUNTAIN   DISTRICTS  391 

There  is  one  dish  that  is  well  served  in  every  house 
here.  This  is  black  beans,  or,  as  the  Mexicans  call  them, 
frijoles  (fre-o'-les).  Frijoles  are  eaten  by  both  rich  and 
poor.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  have  them  at  the 
close  of  a  meal. 

The  Mexicans  have  fine  candies,  and  delicious  chocolate 
is  sold  everywhere.  The  better  classes  live  well.  At  noon 
they  have  a  good  dinner,  each  dish  being  brought  in  and 
served  separately.  None  but  the  rich  can  afford  meat  very 
often ;  and  in  some  cities  the  way  meat  is  sold  makes  us 
think  that  it  would  be  dear  at  almost  any  price.  I  once 
saw  a  butcher  peddling  beef  in  Guana] uato  (gwa-na-ho'-to), 
one  of  the  cities  of  the  plateau.  His  meat  wagon  moved 
about  on  legs  instead  of  on  wheels.  It  was  a  dirty,  one- 
eyed  mule,  upon  whose  back  was  a  framelike  saddle 
covered  with  hooks.  The  pieces  of  meat  hung  from  the 
hooks  down  the  sides  of  the  animal,  the  blood  dripping 
to  the  ground  as  it  walked  along. 

The  mountain  districts  of  Mexico  are  among  the  most 
interesting  regions.  Since  the  discovery  of  America  much 
silver  has  come  from  Mexican  mines,  and  the  Indians  had 
vast  treasures  of  gold  and  silver  when  the  Spaniards  con 
quered  them.  The  Indian  Emperor,  Montezuma,  gave 
Cortez,  the  Spanish  general,  plates  of  gold  as  big  as  wagon 
wheels,  and  golden  spurs  for  his  horses.  To-day  hundreds 
of  mines  are  worked  for  the  precious  metals,  and  a  great 
deal  of  copper  and  iron  is  also  mined.  There  are  oil  fields 
that  yield  millions  of  barrels  of  petroleum.  In  1913  a  well 
was  sunk  that  flowed  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  bar 
rels  of  oil  every  twenty-four  hours.  Several  million  barrels 
went  to  waste  before  the  flow  could  be  stopped. 

But  before  we  leave  this  country  we  must  see  a  volcano. 
Mexico  has  a  number  of  these  wonderful  mountains,  which 


392. 


MEXICO 


now  and  then  vomit  forth  sulphur,  lava,  and  steam.  One 
of  the  greatest  of  them  is  Popocatepetl,  which  is  visible 
from  any  part  of  Mexico  city. 

Popocatepetl  is  one  of  the  high  mountains  of  this  conti 
nent.  It  is  more  than  three  miles  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
We  ride  upon  the  railroad  to  the  town  of  Ameca  Meca,  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Here  we  take  sticks  shod  with 
iron  to  keep  us  from  falling,  and  hire  guides  who  have 
ropes  to  help  us  over  the  ice  and  snows. 

For  the  first  few  hours  our  way  is  through  a  pine  forest. 
Then  we  climb  up  hills  of  volcanic  rock,  through  loose, 


Popocatepetl. 

shifting  black  sand.  As  we  rise  higher,  the  trees  become 
smaller,  and  at  last  we  come  to  a  region  above  which 
nothing  grows. 

We  soon  reach  the  line,  where,  from  year's  end  to  year's 


POPOCATEPETL  393 

end,  the  ice  never  melts.  As  we  cross  this,  the  snow  is 
soft,  but  higher  up  it  becomes  harder  and  harder.  The 
air  grows  colder  and  thinner,  and  at  times  we  feel 
faint  and  sick.  How  our  hearts  beat !  The  glare  of 
the  hot  sun  on  the  snow  dazzles  our  eyes,  and  our  hands 
are  torn  in  pulling  ourselves  from  point  to  point  over  the 
ice.  At  last  we  reach  the  top,  and  stand  on  the  edge  of  the 
crater  of  the  greatest  volcano  in  North  America. 

Popocatepetl  is  not  now  throwing  stones,  rock,  and  lava 
into  the  air,  but  it  is  always  vomiting  out  fumes  of  sulphur. 
We  have  to  get  to  the  windward  of  the  volumes  of  blue  and 
yellow  brimstone  smoke  which  rise  out  of  the  great  hole  in 
the  top  of  the  mountain,  before  we  can  look  down  within. 
The  crater  is  almost  a  mile  wide  at  the  top,  and  it  is  more 
than  one  thousand  feet  deep.  The  walls  slope  inward, 
and  by  peeping  over  we  can  see  scores  of  Indians  at 
work  gathering  the  sulphur  and  carrying  it  to  the  top, 
from  where  it  is  slid  down  the  mountain  in  a  sort  of  chute, 
to  be  prepared  for  the  markets.  This  sulphur  is  said  to  be 
pure,  and  a  great  quantity  of  it  is  taken  out  and  sold  every 
year. 


50.     CENTRAL   AMERICA 

CENTRAL  AMERICA  is  the  next  country  through 
^-^  which  we  shall  travel.  Beginning  at  the  southern 
boundary  of  Mexico,  it  extends  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
to  where  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  joins  South  America,  a 
distance  as  great  as  from  New  York  to  Chicago.  Its  general 
character  is  somewhat  like  that  of  Mexico,  with  tropical  low 
lands  and  a  central  strip  of  plateau  upon  which  are  high 


394  CENTRAL   AMERICA 

volcanic  mountains.  The  people  are  similar  to  the  Mexi 
cans,  save  that  there  are  more  Indians.  (Map,  p.  397.) 

Much  of  the  country  is  wild  and  rough,  and  a  great  part 
of  our  travels  will  be  upon  mules  ;  and  at  times  we  shall 
have  to  go  on  foot  to  explore  the  mahogany  forests  and 
the  valleys  where  the  rubber  trees  grow.  In  the  moun 
tains  we  frequently  pass  mining  camps,  and  in  places  see 
Indian  women  washing  gold  out  of  the  streams. 

The  weather  here  is  hotter  than  in  the  lands  farther  north. 
It  grows  still  warmer  as  we  move  on  towards  Panama, 
and  down  in  the  lowlands  the  vegetation  is  more  and  more 
tropical. 

We  find  that  all  the  little  republics  which  form  Central 
America  have  coffee  estates.  Guatemala,  Salvador,  and 
Costa  Rica  produce  millions  of  pounds  of  excellent  coffee, 
the  most  of  which  is  exported  to  Europe;  and  there  are 
coffee  plantations  in  Nicaragua,  Honduras,  and  Panama. 
The  coffee  is  raised  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  above  the  low 
coast  lands  and  also  upon  the  plateau. 

In  the  low  country  bordering  the  Caribbean  Sea  are 
large  plantations  where  bananas  are  grown.  This  is  espe 
cially  so  in  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  in  Honduras  as  well.  The  chief  market  for  the  bana 
nas  is  the  United  States,  and  great  quantities  of  them  are 
carried  from  here  to  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  New  York,  and 
Boston  and  from  there  shipped  all  over  our  country. 

Bananas  are  started  from  suckers  from  the  plants 
already  grown.  These  suckers  are  set  out  about  fifteen 
feet  apart.  They  soon  take  root  and  grow  rapidly,  often 
reaching  a  height  of  fifteen  or  more  feet.  At  the  age  of 
ten  months  the  first  fruit  can  be  gathered.  Large  bunches 
of  green  bananas  now  hang  down  from  the  stalks  of  the 
plants,  Each  bunch  is  cut  off  where  it  joins  the  stalk,  and 


PRODUCTS 


395 


, 


V'SJ 

HH 


''.     - 

"  ^T*nS?  '  ^i-^B 
i:w*-'%n\  'fn/^ 

^fti  fff«ft^fc 


A  Banana  Plantation. 


while  still  green  is  put  upon  shipboard.  It  takes  several 
days  for  the  steamers  to  reach  our  markets,  and  the  bananas 
ripen  during  the  voyage. 

Another  product  of  Central  America  which  finds  its  way 
to  all  parts  of  our  country  is  chocolate  or  cocoa.  It  is  made 
from  the  seeds  of  the  fruit  of  the  cacao  tree,  which  is  culti 
vated  in  Mexico  and  Central  America.  The  tree  is  planted 
and  carefully  cared  for.  After  a  few  years  it  bears  a  red  or 
green  fruit,  shaped  like  a  melon,  and  about  eight  inches  long. 
In  this  are  the  seeds  known  as  chocolate  nuts  or  cacao  beans. 
The  seeds  are  oily,  and  are  allowed  to  ferment  before 
they  are  dried.  They  are  then  ground  into  a  paste  which, 
pressed  into  cakes,  forms  the  chocolate  sold  in  our  stores. 
Some  of  the  oil  is  taken  out  in  the  process  of  preparation. 


396 


CENTRAL   AMERICA 


Much  of  our  journey  in  Central  America  must  be  through 
the  forests.  No  other  part  of  the  grand  division  has  such 
dense  woods  as  here.  The  trees  grow  to  a  great  height 
and  thickness.  They  are  bound  together  by  snakelike 
vines,  and  the  vegetation  is  so  dense  that  in  passing  through 
the  woods  it  is  impossible  to  advance  more  than  a  few  miles 
a  day. 

Travel  is  quite  dangerous  in  the  forest  regions.  There 
are  poisonous  snakes.  There  are  centipedes,  scorpions, 
vipers,  and  all  sorts  of  horrible  creeping  things.  We  see 


A  Hut  in  Central  America. 


many  wild  beasts.  There  are  panthers  and  jaguars,  herds 
of  peccaries,  or  wild  hogs,  and  monkeys  by  the  hundreds 
jump  from  tree  to  tree 


There  are  humming  birds  not 


^n§ 


397 


398  CENTRAL   AMERICA 

much  larger  than  bumblebees,  and  wild  parrots  and  other 
birds  of  the  most  gorgeous  plumage. 

Here  and  there,  in  the  woods,  we  find  lumber  camps, 
where  men  are  cutting  down  mahogany,  ebony,  and  rose 
wood  to  be  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world  for  making 
furniture.  The  camps  are  usually  on  the  banks  of  a  river, 
the  logs  being  dragged  by  oxen  to  the  stream,  and  floated 
down  to  the  seacoast.  A  mahogany  camp  consists  of  a 
collection  of  log  cabins,  in  which  from  thirty  to  fifty  men 
live  and  work  under  an  overseer  called  a  captain.  There 
is  one  man  among  them,  known  as  the  hunter,  who  goes 
through  the  forest  and  picks  out  the  trees  fit  for  cutting. 
He  knows  a  mahogany  tree  as  far  as  he  can  see  it,  and  he 
understands  just  how  large  it  should  be  to  make  good 
lumber. 

The  mahogany  tree  grows  to  an  enormous  size  in  Cen 
tral  America,  its  trunk  often  being  sixty  feet  high  before 
the  branches  begin.  At  certain  times  of  the  year  the 
leaves  are  colored  as  brightly  as  the  leaves  of  our  forests 
in  autumn.  It  is  this  color  which  forms  the  guide  to  the 
hunter,  who,  having  climbed  to  the  top  of  some  high  tree, 
picks  out  with  his  eye  the  places  where  the  mahogany  trees 
are,  and  plans  just  how  to  get  to  them.  No  trees  are  cut 
which  are  less  than  eight  feet  in  circumference,  and  it  has 
been  calculated  that  a  mahogany  tree  must  be  three  hun 
dred  years  old  before  it  is  ready  for  lumber.  The  wood 
is  of  such  value  that  it  brings  very  high  prices. 

There  are  also  India-rubber  trees.  In  Central  America 
these  trees  do  not  grow  more  than  fifty  feet  high.  In 
gathering  the  sap,  they  are  sometimes  cut  down  ;  or  they 
may  be  left  standing,  and  the  bark  cut  away  in  strips 
from  the  top  of  the  tree  to  its  roots.  Holes  are  then  made 
in  the  ground  at  the  ends  of  the  strips,  and  these  are  so 


THE  CITIES  399 

plastered  with  leaves  that  they  make  a  tight  bowl  in  which 
the  sap  is  caught  as  it  oozes  out  and  drops  down.  After 
the  sap  has  been  collected,  it  is  smoked  to  harden  it  into 
cakes  for  the  markets. 

The  cities  of  Central  America  are  few  and  all  are  com 
paratively  small.  Some  of  them  have  railroads  that  con 
nect  them  with  the  ports  on  the  oceans,  but  others  are 


Native  Shop  in  Guatemala. 

accessible  only  by  stage  or  on  muleback.  Nearly  all  are 
growing,  and  the  countries  are  improving  in  their  means  of 
transportation.  They  are  advancing  in  civilization  and 
wealth  and  are  sending  more  and  more  of  their  products 
to  other  parts  of  the  world.  They  have  good  harbors  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean  or  the  Caribbean  Sea.  Their  prosperity 
will  steadily  increase  now  that  the  Panama  Canal  is  in 
operation,  and  they  will  be  more  closely  allied  to  us  in 
commerce  and  trade. 


40O  CENTRAL  AMERICA 


51.  THROUGH  THE  PANAMA  CANAL  TO 
NEW  YORK 

WE  have  now  about  completed  our  long  tour  of  the 
North  American  continent.  We  have  traveled 
through  all  of  its  countries  from  Alaska  to  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  are  now  at  Balboa,  or  Port  An  con,  which  is 
near  the  city  of  Panama.  We  are  at  the  Pacific  end  of  the 
Panama  Canal,  and  are  ready  to  take  the  steamer  which 


Gatun  Locks.    Oatun  Lake  and  Gd'illard  Cut     /  flir^f lores  Lgke. 
~X   i-t  '  ^^Hj       /        /f/rc)f/orf?.< 

^ 

'    '-,-".-          .•  '*>*•   •' .- •7S"zrrrxA 


End  of  Canal.  Totg/ Length  of  Cdng/ about  SO.flile  s. 

"A  great  water  bridge  from  ocean  to  ocean." 

shall  carry  us  across  the  Isthmus  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
and  back  home  to  New  York. 

Were  it  not  for  the  Panama  Canal,  if  we  wished  to  go 
all  the  way  by  sea,  we  should  have  to  travel  thousands  of 
miles  southward  along  the  western  coast  of  South  America 
to  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  We  should  have  to  steam  two 
hundred  miles  through  that  strait  to  get  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  and  then  should  be  still  six  or  seven  thousand 
miles  south  of  New  York.  If  we  traveled  day  and  night, 
the  whole  of  the  sea  journey  would  take  more  than  a 
month,  whereas  by  the  canal  we  can  be  home  in  about  one 
week  from  the  time  we  leave  here. 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama  is  the  neck  of  land  that  ties 
the  continents  of  North  and  South  America  together.  It 


THE   PANAMA  CANAL  40 1 

consists  of  a  range  of  low  mountains  which,  where  we  are 
now,  is  so  narrow  that  we  could  cross  it  by  automobile  in 
two  or  three  hours,  or  upon  foot  in  two  days.  The  moun 
tains  are  highest  near  the  Pacific  side  of  the  Isthmus, 
but  they  are  not  as  high  as  the  tallest  office  buildings  of 
our  larger  cities.  The  Isthmus  does  not  seem  great,  but 
nevertheless  until  now  it  has  acted  as  a  mighty  wall  be 
tween  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  blocking  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  Ships  could  come  from  either  of  the  two 
oceans  to  the  wail,  but  to  go  from  one  to  the  other  they 
had  to  travel  thousands  of  miles  out  of  their  course.  It 
took  them  many  weeks  to  go  by  way  of  the  Strait  of 
Magellan  or  around  Cape  Horn  from  one  side  of  the 
United  States  to  the  other,  and  parts  of.  Asia,  Australia, 
South  America,  and  Europe,  so  far  as  the  sea  routes 
between  them  are  concerned,  were  thousands  of  miles 
farther  apart  than  they  are  now. 

And  so,  from  time  to  time  men  planned  to  dig  a  water 
way  through  the  Isthmus,  and  make  this  a  short  cut  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  The  work  was  so  great,  however,  that  it 
was  not  until  1880  that  any  one  dared  to  attempt  it.  At 
that  time  a  French  company  with  plans  made  by  the  fa 
mous  engineer,  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  began  the  work. 
De  Lesseps  had  already  built  the  canal  through  the 
Isthmus  of  Suez,  which  joined  Africa  and  Asia  ;  and  he  was 
thought  to  be  just  the  man  to  cut  through  the  isthmus 
which  joined  North  and  South  America. 

However,  the  French  found  that  digging  a  ditch  through 
a  level  desert  of  sand  like  that  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  was 
far  different  from  cutting  a  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  where  the  mountains  had  to  be  blasted  down; 
where  vast  amounts  of  earth  and  rock  had  to  be  moved  out 
of  the  way,  and  where  mighty  dams  had  to  be  built  to  con- 


402  CENTRAL    AMERICA 

trol  the  floods.  They  began  their  work  extravagantly,  and 
had  spent  several  hundred  million  dollars  before  the  people 
who  had  invested  in  the  canal  became  dissatisfied  and 
would  give  no  more  money.  Thereupon  the  French  com 
pany  sold  the  right  to  build  the  canal,  including  all  the 
work  that  had  been  done,  to  our  government  for  the  sum 
of  forty  million  dollars. 

By  that  purchase  we  acquired  a  strip  of  territory  ten 
miles  wide  running  from  one  side  of  the  Isthmus  to  the 
other.  This  is  called  the  Canal  Zone,  and  through  the 
middle  of  it  we  have  dug  our  great  waterway.  We  have 
used  a  little  of  the  work  done  by  the  French,  but  have  had 
to  do  many  times  as  much  more  and  have  so  changed  the 
character  of  the  canal  that  it  is  an  American  work 
throughout. 

Ferdinand  de  Lesseps's  plans  proposed  a  sea-level  canal 
like  that  at  Suez.  He  planned  to  cut  down  the  pass  through 
the  mountains  to  the  level  of  the  two  oceans  so  that  the 
vessels  could  steam  right  through  from  one  to  the  other. 
These  plans  were  found  impossible  by  our  engineers,  and 
our  canal  is  a  lock  canal,  only  about  one  third  of  it  being 
on  the  level  of  the  ocean,  and  about  two  thirds,  or  almost 
thirty  miles,  being  on  a  plain  which  is  eighty-five  feet  above 
that  level.  At  either  end  of  the  elevated  portion  are  three 
great  locks  by  means  of  which  the  ships  are  raised  or 
lowered  up  to  or  down  from  the  higher  part  of  the  canal, 
through  which  they  sail  as  over  a  great  water  bridge  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  The  locks  are  somewhat  like  those  we 
saw  in  the  Great  Lakes.  They  might  be  called  the  steps 
on  each  side  of  the  bridge  (see  diagram,  page  400). 

The  elevated  part  of  the  canal  has  been  made  by  cutting 
down  and  blasting  out  the  earth  and  rock  of  the  Gaillard 
Cut  through  the  mountains  so  that  the  water  in  the  canal 


THE    PANAMA   CANAL  403 

is  at  the  level  of  eighty-five  feet  above  the  sea,  and  also  by 
damming  the  Chagres  River  so  that  a  lake  has  been  formed 
at  that  level.  The  dam  is  known  as  the  Gatun  Dam  and  the 
lake  is  Lake  Gatun.  It  is  the  waters  of  Lake  Gatun  that 
flow  through  the  pass,  and  fill  the  locks  that  raise  and 
lower  the  ships.  Therefore  all  of  the  water  in  the  higher 
part  of  the  canal  is  fresh  water,  and  it  is  only  after  the 
ships  have  passed  out  of  the  locks  down  to  sea-level  that 
they  are  again  in  salt  water. 

The  entire  length  of  the  canal  is  about  fifty  miles,  and 
its  length  from  shore  line  to  shore  line  is  about  forty  miles. 
There  are  great  port  works  at  each  end  of  the  canal,  and 
electric  light  towers  have  been  built  along  the  channel  so 
that  ships  can  go  through  it  by  night  as  well  as  by  day. 

The  locks  are  much  more  wonderful  than  those  of  the 
Great  Lakes.  Each  lock  is  one  thousand  feet  long  and 
big  enough  to  hold  the  largest  ship  afloat.  The  gates  to 
the  locks  are  of  steel,  and  they  comprise  millions  of  pieces 
so  closely  fitted  together  that  they  keep  out  the  water. 
They  are  moved  by  machinery,  whose  motive  power  is 
electricity  generated  by  the  fall  of  the  waters  of  Gatun 
Lake  over  the  spillway  of  the  dam.  The  ships  do  not  use 
their  own  steam  in  the  locks,  but  they  are  towed  through 
them  by  little  electric  locomotives  which  permit  them  to  go 
just  so  fast  and  no  faster.  The  time  required  to  pass  a 
vessel  through  all  the  locks  is  about  three  hours,  and  a 
single  lock  can  be  filled  and  emptied  within  fifteen  minutes. 

The  story  of  making  the  canal  is  so  wonderful  that  it 
would  take  a  large  book  to  describe  it.  Its  cost  altogether 
was  about  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions  of  dollars. 
The  United  States  had  also  to  spend  millions  more  in 
building  the  great  fortifications,  which  are  necessary  to  its 
defense.  They  are  on  the  islands  near  the  entrances  and 


(404) 


'  We  are  at  the  Pacific  end  of  the  Panama  canal. 


THE   PANAMA   CANAL  405 

along  the  line  of  the  canal.  Our  government  has  a  rail 
road  through  the  Canal  Zone  that  runs  from  one  side  of 
the  Isthmus  to  the  other,  and  it  keeps  a  large  force  of 
Americans  busy  in  running  this  road,  in  operating  the 
machinery  of  the  canal,  and  in  managing  the  docks, 
warehouses,  coaling  stations,  and  other  establishments  at 
either  end. 

In  entering  the  canal  from  Port  Ancon,  we  steam  in  on 
the  level  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  go  over  eight  and  a  half 
miles  before  we  come  to  the  two  mighty  locks  in  which  our 
steamer  is  lifted  fifty-five  feet  to  the  level  of  Lake  Mira- 
flores.  We  steam  through  the  lake  for  one  mile  and  a  half, 
and  then  enter  the  lock  of  Pedro  Miguel  (pa'dro  mee-gel'). 
Here  the  gates  close  behind  us,  the  lock  fills  with  water, 
and  our  steamer  slowly  rises  about  thirty  feet.  We  are  now 
eighty-five  feet  over  the  sea  and  on  the  level  of  the  water 
in  the  Gaillard  Cut.  The  gates  in  front  of  us  open,  and 
we  steam  through  this  cut  for  a  distance  of  nine  miles  into 
the  great  Lake  of  Gatun  (see  diagram). 

During  this  part  of  our  journey  the  hills  are  high  over 
our  heads.  The  cut  was  blasted  out  of  the  mountains  and 
the  deep  canyon  through  which  we  steam  has  been  cut 
right  through  the  hills.  So  much  earth  and  rock  had  to 
be  moved  in  making  this  part  of  the  canal  that  it  would 
more  than  fill  a  ditch  a  yard  wide  and  a  yard  deep  twice 
around  the  globe  and  still  leave  enough  over  to  equal  that 
of  a  tunnel  through  the  center  of  the  earth  big  enough  for 
a  grizzly  bear  to  crawl  through. 

We  see  but  few  signs  of  the  work  as  we  go  onward. 
The  banks  of  the  cut  are  now  covered  with  green,  and 
there  are  wild  flowers  blooming  on  the  edge  of  the  water. 
We  steam  out  of  the  cut  into  Lake  Gatun  and  wind  our  way 
through  it  for  a  distance  of  twenty-four  miles  to  the  great 


406  CENTRAL   AMERICA 

dam,  at  one  side  of  which  the  Gatun  locks  are.  These 
locks  have  three  levels,  and  through  them  we  drop  from 
one  to  the  other  down  to  the  channel  that  leads  out  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  The  distance  from  the  locks  to  the  ocean 
is  only  about  seven  miles,  and  within  a  short  time  we  are  in 
Limon  Bay,  at  the  docks  of  Cristobal,  near  the  city  of 
Colon,  at  the  Atlantic  end  of  the  canal,  and  ready  to  start 
on  to  New  York. 

Our  trip  through  the  canal  has  taken  us  a  little  more 
than  ten  hours,  and  in  this  time  we  have  saved  the  eight 
thousand  miles  more  that  we  should  have  traveled  had  we 
been  forced  to  go  by  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

Now  we  have  left  Cristobal,  and  are  out  of  sight  of 
land,  steaming  over  the  wide  Caribbean  Sea.  The  air  is 
fresh,  the  water  is  blue,  and  schools  of  silvery  flying  fish 
dart  from  wave  to  wave.  A  little  later  we  pass  the  blue 
hills  of  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  and  on  the  following  days 
catch  glimpses  of  Cuba  and  Haiti  as  we  sail  between  them. 
We  next  pass  San  Salvador,  where  Columbus  landed  when 
he  first  came  to  this  side  of  the  world.  Thence  we  steam 
through  the  warm  waters  -of  the  Gulf  Stream  northward 
along  our  Atlantic  coast.  It  is  stormy  as  we  pass  Cape 
Hatteras,  but  the  sea  is  smooth  as  we  round  Sandy  Hook, 
and  the  weather  is  fine  as  we  pass  the  great  Statue  of 
Liberty  and  come  to  anchor  at  the  wharves  of  New  York. 


INDEX 


Adams,  John,  19,  27. 

Adams,  Mount,  94. 

Agriculture,  Department  of,  24,  47. 

Alabama,  116,  135,  193. 

Alaska,  261,  318,  336-352. 

Alberta,  362,  365. 

Aleutian  Islands,  337. 

Allegheny  River,  228,  236,  243. 

Appalachian  Mountains,  92,  232. 

Arizona,  291,  332. 

Arkansas,  116. 

Atlanta,  129. 

Baker,  Mount,  363. 
Baltimore,  49—54. 
Bancroft,  George,  101. 
Bedloes  Island,  Si. 
Bellaire,  243. 
Birmingham,  236. 
Boots,  87. 
Boston,  98-107. 
Boston  Tea  Party,  103. 
British  America,  352,  376. 
Brooklyn  Bridge,  81. 
Buffalo,  208. 

Bunker  Hill  Monument,  102. 
Butte,  326. 

Cairo,  167. 
Calgary,  364. 
California,  200,  224,  294. 
California,  Gulf  of,  262. 
Cambridge,  102. 


Canada,  206,  359~376- 

Capitol,  31. 

Carson  River,  292. 

Cascade  Mountains,  320. 

Catskill  Mountains,  95. 

Cattle,  252-258. 

Cave  of  the  Winds,  216. 

Census  Bureau,  47. 

Central  America,  393-406. 

Central  Park,  82. 

Chapultapec,  388. 

Charleston,  132. 

Chattanooga,  236. 

Chicago,  245-259. 

Chicago,  University  of,  251. 

Chocolate,  395. 

Cincinnati,  244. 

Cleveland,  206. 

Clocks,  Manufacture  of,  87. 

Coal,  56,  207,  212,  229-236. 

Coconuts,  148. 

Cod,  349. 

Coffee,  381,  394. 

Coke,  239. 

Colon,  406. 

Colorado,  232,  292. 

Colorado  River,  262,  292. 

Columbia  River,  316,  321. 

Commerce,  49,  65,  71-92,  99,  107, 
155,  170,  171,  177,  185,  205,  210, 
233»  3^8.  369  —  Cotton,  166  — 
Grain,  152,  166 —  Molasses,  164  — 
Oil,  224  —  Sugar,  163  — Wheat,  183. 


407 


408 


INDEX 


Commerce    and     Labor,    Department 

of,  47. 

Commerce,  Foreign,  71-78. 
Concord,  104. 
Connecticut,  87,  115. 
Connelsville,  239. 
Constitution  of  United  States,  57. 
Copper,  60,  187,  192-198. 
Costa  Rica,  394. 
Cotton,    77,    86,    116-128,    156  —  Sea 

Island,  129—  Seed  Oil,  123. 

Dead  Letter  Office,  44. 

De  Lesseps,  Ferdinand,  401. 

Denver,  259,  264. 

Detroit,  206. 

Detroit  River,  213.  , 

Druid  Hill  Park,  51. 

Duluth,  185. 

Eads,  Captain  James  B.,  150. 

East  Liverpool,  243. 

Elevators,  grain,  181. 

Engraving  and  Printing,  Bureau  of,  42. 

Ericson,  Leif,  84. 

Erie  Canal,  209. 

Erie,  Lake,  189,  237. 

P'skimos,  343. 

Everglades,  The,  140. 

Fairbanks,  352. 

Field  Museum,  251. 

Figs,  297. 

Findley,  226. 

Fish,  95,  144,  316,  325,  349. 

Florida,  139-149,  293. 

Florida  Keys,  141. 

Forestry,  Bureau  of,  48,  200,  303. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  57. 

Fulton,  Robert,  69. 

Furs,  346,  352. 

Garden  of  the  Gods,  260. 
Garfield,  James  A.,  208. 
Gatun,  Lake,  403. 


Georgetown,  19. 

Georgia,  116,  121,  124,  128,  135,  193. 

Georgia,  Gulf  of,  362. 

Geysers,  322. 

Girard  College,  62. 

Glacier  Bay,  338. 

Glaciers,  340. 

Goat  Island,  214. 

Gold,  59,  263,  266-273,  350. 

Grain,  187,  250. 

Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado,  262. 

Granite,  96. 

Great  American  Desert,  289. 

Great  Bear  Lake,  353. 

Great  Lakes,  185-192,  202,  213. 

Great  Salt  Lake,  262,  284. 

Great  Slave  Lake,  353. 

Green  Mountains,  95. 

Guatemala,  394. 

Halifax,  376. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  69. 

Hampton,  108. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  245. 

Harrison,     General     William     Henry, 

208. 

Harvard  University,  101. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  101. 
Height  of  Land,  188. 
Hogs,  252-258. 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  101. 
Honduras,  394. 
Hood,  Mount,  315. 
Hoosac,  Mount,  89. 
Hops,  326. 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  355. 
Huron,  Lake,  189. 

Idaho,  292. 

Immigration,  Bureau  of,  79. 

Independence,     Declaration    of,     35, 

57- 

Indiana,  224. 
Indianapolis,  245. 
Indian  Bureau,  334, 


INDEX 


409 


Indian  Corn,  172-177. 

Indians,  105,  108,  112,  327-335,  342, 

354- 

Iron,  192-195,  207,  236-244. 
Irrigation,  289-294. 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  140,  153. 

Jackson,  Mount,  94. 

Jacksonville,  141. 

James  River,  1 08,  230. 

Jamestown,  108,  in. 

Japanese  Current,  312. 

Jefferson,  Mount,  94. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  35. 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  51. 

Juan  de  Fuca,  362. 

Juneau,  352. 

Justice,  Department  of,  43. 

Kansas,  224,  292. 
Katahdin,  Mount,  94. 
Kentucky,  114. 
Kerosene,  224. 
Keweenah  Peninsula,  195. 
Key,  Francis  Scott,  50. 
Key  West,  141. 
Knoxville,  236. 

Labrador,  359. 

Lawrence,  Captain  James,  69. 

Leadville,  263. 

Leather,  91. 

Leland    Stanford    Junior    University, 

298. 

L' Enfant,  Major  Pierre,  22. 
Lexington,  104. 
Liberty  Statue,  81. 
Library  of  Congress,  23. 
Logging,  204. 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  101. 
Los  Angeles,  294,  304. 
Louisiana,  130,  135,  153. 
Louisiana  Purchase,  153. 
Louisville,  245. 
Lowell,  James  Russell.  101, 


Lumber,  135,  138,  169,  198-205,  250, 

301,  312,  367,  398. 
Lynn,  91. 

Mackenzie  River,  353. 

Madison,  Mount,  94. 

Maine,  84,  97,  199. 

Manhattan  Island,  65. 

Manitoba,  362. 

Manufactures,  55,  63,  74,  83-92,  99, 
171,  205,  237,  243,  250,  258,  319, 
366  — Cotton,  123-128  —  Lumber, 
184  — Sugar,  1 60  — Wool,  184. 

Marble,  96. 

Marshall  Pass,  282. 

Massachusetts,  85,  87,  88. 

Mayflower,  105. 

Memphis,  167. 

Merced  River,  304. 

Mexico,  376-393. 

Mexico,  City  of,  384. 

Mexico,  Gulf  of,  149. 

Miami  Canal,  244. 

Michigan,  195. 

Michigan,  Lake,  189. 

Milwaukee,  258. 

Milwaukee  River,  258. 

Mining,  192-198,  266-280,  349. 

Minneapolis,  181-183. 

Minnesota,  178,  201,  332. 

Mint,  United  States,  59-62. 

Miraflores  Lake,  405. 

Mississippi  River,  149-153,  164-177. 

Mississippi,  State  of,  116. 

Missouri  River,  164. 

Mobile,  149. 

Molasses,  163. 

Monongahela  River,  233,  236,  243. 

Monroe,  Mount,  94. 

Montana,  232,  292. 

Montezuma,  391. 

Montreal,  367,  369. 

Muir  Glacier,  342. 

Museum,  National,  24. 

Mutton,  252-258. 


4io 


INDEX 


Nashville,  236. 

Natchez,  166. 

Natural  Gas,  226. 

Navy  Department,  37. 

Nebraska,  292. 

Nevada,  292. 

Newark,  63. 

New  England,  83. 

Newfoundland,  359. 

New  Hampshire,  93. 

New  Jersey,  193. 

New  Mexico,  332. 

New  Orleans,  152-164. 

New  York  City,  63-83. 

New  York  State,  193. 

Niagara  Falls,  212-220. 

Niagara  River,  212. 

Nicaragua,  394. 

Nome,  351. 

Norfolk,  107,  109. 

North  America,  General  View,  11-17. 

North  Carolina,  114,  124,  135. 

North  Dakota,  178,  232. 

Nuts,  297. 

Ohio  River,  243. 

Ohio,  State  of,  115,  193,  224,  226. 

Oil,  220-225. 

Oil  City,  225. 

Okefmokee  Swamp,  139. 

Oklahoma,  224,  334. 

Ontario,  362. 

Ontario,  Lake,  189. 

Oranges,  145-148. 

Oregon,  200,  311. 

Ottawa,  367. 

Ottawa  River,  367. 

Owens  Lake,  305. 

Oysters,  49. 

Panama,  394,  400. 
Panama  Canal,  400-406. 
Paper,  87,  201. 
Pasadena,  300. 
Patent  Office,  46. 


Pavloff,  Mount,  337. 

Peanuts,  109. 

Pend  Oreille,  Lake,  326. 

Penn,  William,  57. 

Pennsylvania,  State  of,  86,  115,  193, 

221,  225,  230. 

Pennsylvania,  University  of,  62. 
Petroleum,  220-225. 
Philadelphia,  54-62. 
Phoenix,  291. 
Pike's  Peak,  259-266. 
Pineapples,  148. 
Pittsburgh,  228,  233,  236-245. 
Plymouth,  105. 
Plymouth  Rock,  106. 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  50. 
Popocatepetl,  386,  392. 
Port  Arthur,  366. 
Portland,  304,  311. 
Post  Office,  Department  of,  43. 
Prescott,  Colonel  William,  105.. 
President  of  the  United  States,  29. 
Pribiloff  Islands,  347. 
Princeton,  63. 
Puget  Sound,  318. 
Pullman,  250. 

Quebec,  362,  374. 

Railroads,  63,  73,  89,  93,  98,  129,  141, 
i55»  I58>  !72»  233>   28o>  3°4,  362> 

371- 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  113. 
Red  River  Valley,  180. 
Reindeer,  375. 

Representatives,  House  of,  31,  32. 
Revere,  Paul,  104. 
Rhode  Island,  87. 
Rice,  128-132. 
Richmond,  ill,  230. 
Rideau,  Falls  of,  367. 
Riley,  James  Whitcomb,  245. 
Rocky  Mountains,  200,  259-289. 
Roebling,  John  A.,  81. 
Rosin,  135. 


INDEX 


411 


Royall,  Mount,  370. 
Rubber,  398. 

Sacramento,  294. 

St.  Elias,  Mount,  340. 

St.  John's  River,  143. 

St.  Louis,  171. 

St.  Mary,  Falls  of,  189. 

St.  Paul,  184. 

Salmon,  316,  349. 

Salvador,  394. 

Salt  Lake  City,  280-288. 

San  Francisco,  264,  280,  304,  306. 

San  Salvador,  406. 

Saskatchewan,  362. 

Savannah,  134. 

Scranton,  230. 

Seals,  346. 

Seattle,  304,  318. 

Senate,  United  States,  31. 

Seward  Peninsula,  338,  350. 

Seward,  William  IL,  336. 

Shipping,  77,  88,  98,   132,   152,  156, 

164,  169,  183,  205. 
Shoes,  87,  91. 
Sierra  Nevada    Mountains,    264,  287, 

301. 

Silver,  59,  273-280. 
Sitka,  338,  348. 
Slate,  97. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  84,  107. 
Smithsonian  Institution,  24. 
Snake  River,  321. 
South  Carolina,  116,  130,  135. 
South  Dakota,  1 78,  292. 
Spokane,  320. 
Standish,  Miles,  106. 
Star-spangled  Banner,  50. 
State,  Department  of,  35. 
Steubenville,  243. 
Stockyards,  252. 
Sugar,    157-164  —  Beet,    158  —  Cane, 

157 —  Maple,  98. 
Sumdum  Bay,  340. 
Sumter,  Fort,  133. 


Superior,  Lake,  189,  237. 
Supreme  Court,  34. 

Tacoma,  304,  318. 

Tacoma,  Mount,  318. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  245. 

Tennessee,  114,  193. 

Texas,  116,  130,  138,  193,  224. 

Titusville,  221. 

Tobacco,  112,  141,  245.  % 

Toledo,  206. 

Toronto,  369. 

Totem  poles,  343. 

Treasury,  Department  of,  25,  39. 

Trenton,  63. 

Truckee  River,  292. 

Turpentine,  134. 

United  States,  Description  of,  15. 
Utah,  193,  232,  273,  284. 

Vancouver,  362. 
Vera  Cruz,  376. 
Vermont,  96. 
Vicksburg,  166. 
Victoria,  362. 
Virginia,  107,  193,  293. 

War,  Department  of,  39. 
Wasatch  Mountains,  273,  287. 
Washington,  D.C.,  17-49. 
Washington,  General  George,  102. 
Washington,  Mount,  95. 
Washington  Monument,  24. 
Washington,  State  of,  200,  311. 
Watches,  how  made,  87. 
Water   power,    56,    85,  95,    212-220 

3I9- 

Welland  Canal,  191,  209. 
WTest  Virginia,  224,  236. 
W7hales,  358. 

WTheat,  177-184,  210,  366. 
Wheeling,  243. 
\Vhite  House,  19,  26. 
White  Mountains,  93. 


412 


INDEX 


White,  Peregrine,  107. 
Wilkesbarre,  230. 
Winnipeg,  366. 
Wisconsin,  115,  201. 
Wool,  87. 

Wrangell  Mountain,  337. 
Wyoming,  193,  232,  292. 


Yale  College,  IOI. 
Yellowstone  Lake,  325. 
Yellowstone  Park,  263,  321-327. 
Yellowstone  River,  324. 
Yosemite  National  Park,  303. 
Yukon  River,  339,  353. 


tti  J6/U4 


410921 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


